Empty frames - Who cares? (Challenges and problems of missing works of art at International Gallery of Portrait in Tuzla), Amra Ćebić

A case of 72 missing artworks from the International Gallery of Portrait in Tuzla will be presented explaining the procedures conducted in order to find and return them, but also to show what the impact it made on society, art and culture institutions and on government institutions. The notice on missing artworks was reported to the Ministry of foreign affairs of Tuzla canton and to the Prosecutor’s office of Tuzla canton. The case and the trial were opened in order to press charges on staff and to find missing artworks. Very soon the shortcomings in legislative and in the museology became evident as the process continued. The main problem and shortcomings that were detected were: the lack of state law or guidebook on annual inventory that should be applied to all museums in galleries in B&H; lack of national database on missing artworks; lack of national inventory software; lack of digital database of artworks; weak coordination between police entities due to state structure; low public awareness on heritage protection.