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Many believe that the art stashed within the Geneva Freeport’s walls – reportedly including around a thousand pieces by Picasso – would make it one of the world’s largest and most exquisite museums… if the work was on display. Instead, masterworks sit unseen and untouched in high-security vaults, alongside archaeological treasures, gold bars, diamonds, weapons and rare vintage wines – their owners waiting for them to appreciate in value, or, in less savoury cases, to hide them for a time. Because the freeport is exempt from import taxes or duties, and operates under the famous secrecy of Switzerland’s banking system, it is thought to be a hotbed of black market activity (although in 2016 the Swiss government took new measures to crack down on illegal freeport holdings). National Disintegrations contrasts the mysterious inner life of the Geneva Freeport – where untold billions in riches come and go with little regulation – with scenes of a nearby complex, where asylum seekers are subjected to endless waiting and bureaucracy. What does this disparity in freedom say about Swiss society and the global movement of people and goods?
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Values and beliefs
How a God-fearing Jewish woman found atheism – and bacon – in her later years
9 minutes
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War and peace
Before he leaves to go to war, Artem, 18, says goodbye to the man who raised him
12 minutes
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Computing and artificial intelligence
How machine learning can help historians decode ancient inscriptions
7 minutes
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Animals and humans
What the ancient city of Kars looks like from the perspective of its stray dogs
9 minutes
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Family life
A son of China’s former one-child policy remembers the sibling he never had
8 minutes
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Making
Ceramic designs spin to life in a tactile meditation on the art of pottery
9 minutes
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Information and communication
From mental image to sketch – how memories and emotions conjure up a face
23 minutes
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Childhood and adolescence
When Paradise, California burned, its teens became instant climate refugees
23 minutes
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Gender and identity
How the spy-cam epidemic in South Korea affects the women who are its victims
35 minutes