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Guest Work Agency Art law and advisory firm. Curatorial practice. Founder of the Guest Club. We produce innovative art solutions using legal and curatorial expertise.

Europe’s Museum Heists: A growing risk to art and cultural property.From Renaissance paintings in Sicily to precious obj...
20/10/2026

Europe’s Museum Heists: A growing risk to art and cultural property.

From Renaissance paintings in Sicily to precious objects in France, a series of museum thefts has exposed the vulnerability of some of Europe’s most significant cultural collections.

In August, Europol warned of changing tactics among art thieves, including more forceful attacks and a growing focus on culturally significant objects, precious metals and gemstones.

Recent developments have brought those concerns into sharper focus:
📍 France, 4 October: A 150kg bronze book cover designed by Salvador Dalí, adorned with gold, precious stones and pearls, was stolen from a contemporary art museum in Issoire.
📍France, 9 October: Two Renoir paintings stolen from the Musée Renoir in September were recovered following a police investigation, with six suspects arrested.
📍Italy, August: Four works by Renaissance artist Antonello da Messina were stolen from a museum in Sicily.
📍France, July: Thieves took 27 pieces from the Musée Lalique in an eleven-minute operation.

Beyond the break-in, what are the legal consequences?

The theft of cultural property can trigger complex questions of ownership, provenance, insurance, restitution and cross-border recovery.

Where objects are damaged or dismantled for their constituent materials, the loss may extend far beyond their financial value.

For museums, collectors and custodians of cultural property, security is not simply a matter of physical protection. It is an essential component of responsible stewardship.

📩 Read more via the link in bio.

South Korea’s art market is entering a new regulatory era.New obligations under South Korea’s Art Promotion Act signal a...
15/10/2026

South Korea’s art market is entering a new regulatory era.

New obligations under South Korea’s Art Promotion Act signal a shift towards greater transparency and accountability across the country’s art market.

The reforms address the regulation of art businesses, unfair contractual practices and the treatment of artists’ rights.

Of particular interest is the introduction of an artist resale royalty regime, scheduled to take effect in July 2027, subject to the applicable implementing rules.

For artists, galleries and collectors operating internationally, the reforms are a reminder that the legal framework governing an artwork does not necessarily stop at the border.

We will be following how these changes develop and what they mean for cross-border art transactions.

Disclaimer: This post is general information only and not legal advice. Every situation is different, so it’s important to obtain advice from a lawyer suited to your circumstances.

What does copyright actually mean for artists and creatives in practice?On Thursday, 5 November, our Principal & Founder...
08/10/2026

What does copyright actually mean for artists and creatives in practice?

On Thursday, 5 November, our Principal & Founder Alana Kushnir and Lawyer Sarah Wei will lead an online Lunchbox Session for Surf Coast Shire Council , exploring copyright through the everyday situations that arise in creative practice.

We’ll look at who owns copyright in a work, what happens when you collaborate or are commissioned to create something, how copyright can be licensed or assigned, and what to consider when your work - or someone else’s - is reproduced, shared or presented publicly.

The aim: to give artists and creatives a clearer understanding of the rights that sit behind their work, and how to navigate them in practice.

Registration is essential. Join us online via the link in bio.

✨For this edition of The Interview, we sit down with Gretel Bull, Business Manager at Papunya Tula Artists Pty Ltd, to d...
06/10/2026

✨For this edition of The Interview, we sit down with Gretel Bull, Business Manager at Papunya Tula Artists Pty Ltd, to discuss the centre’s unique business model, cultural stewardship, and what still needs to change to properly protect First Nations artists and their intellectual property.

What began in 1971 as an act of cultural and artistic agency has grown into one of Australia’s most significant art enterprises. Papunya Tula Artists is entirely self-sufficient and inseparable from the Western Desert communities it serves.

For more than fifty years it has been one of the foremost advocates and proprietors of First Nations art in Australia. Yet global recognition has also brought new complexity: questions of provenance, cultural protocol, and the ethical stewardship of works that carry knowledge far beyond their surface.

📩Read the full interview via the link in bio.

The most important thing a family can inherit with an object may not be the object itself. A painting may be conserved. ...
01/10/2026

The most important thing a family can inherit with an object may not be the object itself. A painting may be conserved. A jewel may be insured. Its ownership can be documented and its value assessed. What is much harder to preserve is everything that sits around it. 

* Why was it acquired? 
* What did it mark? 
* Who made it, and why did that matter to the person who chose it? 
* Where did it live, who wore it, who admired it, and what place did it come to occupy within a family? 

Without those answers, an object may remain materially intact, and financially valuable, while gradually losing something much harder to recover: its meaning. 

📝Read the full article via the link in bio.

A promise is not a law.In July 2026, the Prime Minister said Australian writers, musicians, artists and journalists must...
29/09/2026

A promise is not a law.

In July 2026, the Prime Minister said Australian writers, musicians, artists and journalists must keep control over their work, including its price and value, when it comes to AI training.

He also said that Australian law would spell that out. 

But a political commitment isn’t enacted copyright law. And developments in recent weeks show that exactly where the lines will be drawn remains unsettled.

For now, the Copyright Act continues to provide the legal framework. Exactly how copyright applies to the ingestion and use of creative works by generative AI and whether further protections, licensing mechanisms or enforcement pathways are needed, remains under consideration.

Meanwhile, recent incidents involving increasingly autonomous AI agents have brought a broader question of control into sharper focus. The big question is how much meaningful control they will have over the use and value of that work in an AI economy.

The Government has signalled that new laws are coming. We’ll be watching closely to see what that promise looks like when it becomes law.

Subscribe to The Gilded Gazette for updates on art, law and the issues shaping the creative industries.

🔗 Read more: link in bio

Murujuga in Western Australia is home to an estimated 1–2 million petroglyphs, created over tens of thousands of years. ...
24/09/2026

Murujuga in Western Australia is home to an estimated 1–2 million petroglyphs, created over tens of thousands of years. Today, this extraordinary cultural landscape also sits alongside major industrial facilities, including the Karratha Gas Plant.

On 12 September 2025, the federal Environment Minister approved the North West Shelf Project Extension, allowing the continued operation of the project until 2070. Friends of Australian Rock Art (FARA) and the Australian Conservation Foundation have both challenged aspects of that decision in the Federal Court. The proceedings were heard in July 2026 and judgment is reserved.

These are judicial review proceedings: the Court is not deciding whether it should have approved the project, but whether the Minister exercised the approval power according to law.

From a cultural heritage perspective, FARA’s challenge is particularly significant. FARA argues that s 137A of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cth) prohibited the Minister from acting inconsistently with the National Heritage Management Principles - whether this requirement was met is a matter for the Court to determine. The Minister and Woodside contest that interpretation. 

👀We’ll be watching closely.

📩Read more: link in bio

Celebrating Mid-Autumn with a first look at Australia China Art Residency’s latest exhibition in Sydney 🌕We were delight...
22/09/2026

Celebrating Mid-Autumn with a first look at Australia China Art Residency’s latest exhibition in Sydney 🌕

We were delighted to attend the exhibition sneak peek of Ten Years of Excellence: A Creative Precinct Retrospective, hosted by ACAR together with wealth management firm Lipman Burgon. 

✨For the Mid-Autumn Festival, dancers performed throughout the evening
🎨We met artist 𝐂𝐀𝐎 𝐘𝐔 ｜曹 雨 and saw her work up close
🖼️Executive Officer of ACAR, Ariel Zhang, introduced the exhibition and key works
🤝We heard about the important work of ACAR in driving cross-cultural artist development between Australia and China with Geoff Raby, Chair of ACAR

Thank you to ACAR and Lipman Burgon for the invitation. 

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival to everyone celebrating, and we look forward to the full exhibition.

Celebrating Mid-Autumn with a first look at Australia China Art Residency’s latest exhibition in Sydney 🌕We were delight...
22/09/2026

Celebrating Mid-Autumn with a first look at Australia China Art Residency’s latest exhibition in Sydney 🌕

We were delighted to attend the exhibition sneak peek of Ten Years of Excellence: A Creative Precinct Retrospective, hosted by ACAR together with wealth management firm Lipman Burgon. 

✨ For the Mid-Autumn Festival, dancers performed throughout the evening
🎨We met artist Cao Yu and saw her work up close
🖼️Executive Officer of ACAR, Ariel Zhang, introduced the exhibition and key works
🤝We heard about the important work of ACAR in driving cross-cultural artist development between Australia and China with Geoff Raby, Chair of ACAR

Thank you to ACAR and Lipman Burgon for the invitation. 

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival to everyone celebrating, and we look forward to the full exhibition.

🖼️Art Case UpdateArt law moves quickly - and our latest Art Case Update captures some of the key developments shaping th...
16/09/2026

🖼️Art Case Update

Art law moves quickly - and our latest Art Case Update captures some of the key developments shaping the field across Australia, Europe, the UK, South Korea and China.

In this edition, Principal & Founder Alana Kushnir and Lawyer Sarah Wei examine:

📚the Fair Work Commission’s provisional decision on classifying arts workers under a proposed new Amusement, Recreation, Events and Arts (AREA) Award

📚the ongoing debate over First Nations cultural heritage protection at Murujuga/Burrup Peninsula, following the Environment Minister’s approval of the North West Shelf gas project’s extended operation

📚where Australia’s approach to AI and copyright is heading, as the Attorney-General’s Copyright and AI Reference Group’s work signals legislative change on the horizon

📚recent European museum thefts making headlines in the art world

📚Banksy returned to the UK High Court in a dispute over the commercial use of the artist’s work

📚in China, Molly Tea v Louis Vuitton ruling shows how far a floral logo can travel before it infringes

📚and the reasons behind South Korea’s Music Collecting Society reversing its ban on AI-Assisted registration

Together, these developments show how art law continues to sit at the intersection of labour rights, cultural heritage, technology, security and the global art market.

📝Read the full article via the link in bio.

📷Image Courtesy of Everett Collection via Canva. 

Disclaimer: This post is general information only and not legal advice. Every situation is different, so it’s important to obtain advice from a lawyer suited to your circumstances.

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