A quote from my upcoming book, Pandora’s Box and Other Essays. The quote was from my article originally published on October 8, 2001, less than a month after 9/11. Directly preceding it is the definition of civilization from the American Heritage Dictionary: “An advanced state of intellectual, cultural, and material development in human society, marked by progress in the arts and sciences, the extensive use of writing, and the appearance of complex political and social institutions.”
It is obvious that Duchamp’s Urinal is not part of any development by any standard, yet it was unanimously acclaimed as the most influential visual art work of the 20th century. Let that sink in, I’ll wait …
Michael Newberry 
“launder” ^
Michael, was reading a thread yesterday in Twitter about how in Geneva, a ‘freeport’ …..(Geneva Freeport (French: Ports Francs et Entrepôts de Genève SA) is a warehouse complex in Geneva, Switzerland, for the storage of art and other valuables and collectibles. It is the oldest and largest freeport facility, and the one with the most artworks, with 40% of its collection being art with an estimated value of US$100 billion….
The freeport became the preferred storage facility for international elite due to the opacity of Switzerland’s storage and customs laws but has since come under scrutiny for its complicity in looted antiquities trade and money laundering schemes.[3] The facility’s holdings, especially those possibly related to tax avoidance, have been subject to increasingly greater scrutiny since the release of the Panama Papers in 2016.[4] Recent laws passed in Switzerland have aimed at increasing the transparency of the freeport’s contents discouraging long-term storage there.)
is basically a place to stash art for the elite to circumvent taxes and lauder.
Tom, I vaguely recall something about this. Billions of dollars of art that no one wants to see, I see. hahaha.