False imprisonment is a crime, and it’s happened to artists in the past like Egon Sheile and the present like Sherrill Roland. Chinese artist Ai Weiwei was once held against his will in a detention center straight out of a psychological horror movie. Listen to the story of his life told in parallel with his art and his endurance under harsh conditions. His current show is Ai Weiwei: Button Up! and runs until Sept. 6 at Aviva Studios in Manchester.

Welcome to Rome. In the middle of an invasion? Sure. The Goths are back in town, but it’s not a Cure cover band. This one is for the moody poetry lovers, however, because we trace backwards from the medieval writings of the Venerable Bede right into the 1st-century mind of Pliny the Elder to pose a massive question. What if a bronze Roman colossus as big as King Kong survived straight into the Middle Ages? When it finally came down is a mystery today. Odysseus might have had an epic adventure first, but we’re going to copy the vibe just like Pliny copied the Greeks, passing this ancient wonder down to you through ekphrasis and oral tradition. The second half of this episode goes into war crimes towards art and culture. There are antiquities that are at risk of being destroyed like the Colossus, and it's happening right now.

Frame Job is a podcast about art & crime. Listen to compelling art crime stories all backed up by historical research. You'll hear about dangerous art recovery missions, cultural debates around stolen antiquities, AI/Copyright threats, shameless criminals and lots and lots of fine art. Bonus episodes are a deeper dive into the topics you love and with more shocking details that I can only provide to a select few curators. All ad-free and with no AI.

Hosted by Leslie Sink who has a BFA in Art History, a background at MTV and also experience as a juror on a high profile murder case. If you love the arts and you love true crime, you’ll find out why all is fair in love and art on Frame Job.

Subscribe now to get weekly bonus episodes starting on July 15. That's in addition to the regular weekly episodes - so we're talking two episodes a week for super-fans and patreons.

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