Appropriation Art and Fair Use in the Digital Age

Via Photo Eye

The REMIX Culture: Appropriation Art and Fair Use in the Digital Age

A  PANEL DISCUSSION
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
6:30-8p.m at Photo Eye Gallery

376 Garcia Street Santa Fe, NM
(505) 988 -5152

photo-eye Gallery is pleased to announce part three of our Summer Lecture Series presented in collaboration with New Mexico Lawyers for the Arts, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing artists and arts organizations with pro bono legal assistances and educational programming.

As issues of appropriation and remixing increasingly flood our culture, copyright infringement lawsuits are on the rise. In the final part of our Art Law series, a range of experts from across the legal, business and creative realms of art (an attorney, a dealer, an arts consultant and an appropriation artist), will discuss the creative methods and ideas associated with appropriation in art today.

Using the facts from the high profile Cariou vs Prince appropriation case, the panel will discuss the importance of appropriation and forms of visual referencing in our culture, the differences between transformative works and infringement and whether current copyright laws provide sufficient protection while preserving an artist's freedom to reference the work of others.

All events are free and open to the public on a first come, first serve basis.



Panelists:

Benjamin Allison: a copyright and trademark lawyer at Sutin Thayer & Browne PC in Santa Fe, where his practice also includes commercial and art litigation. He has practiced law in New York City and clerked for U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Paul J. Kelly Jr. He teaches Art Law at Santa Fe Community College.

Craig Anderson: Works as an independent curator and art and museum advisor. He served as the Executive Director and Curator at Center for Contemporary Art in Santa Fe from 2010 to 2012. He has been watching closely the unfolding Prince v. Cariou case closely.

Sid Monroe: Sidney Monroe has been engaged in the fine-art and photography field for over 30 years. Previous to establishing Monroe Gallery of Photography with is wife and business partner Michelle, he was the Gallery Director for the flagship New York location of a leading national art gallery organization, and later a founding partner of an leading gallery of photography in New York City, SoHo Triad Fine Arts. His comments on photography have been published in numerous magazines and newspapers, and he has appeared on television programs throughout the world in conjunction with exhibitions and photography sales.

Monroe Gallery specializes in 20th and 21st Century photojournalist imagery. The gallery also represents a select group of contemporary and emerging photographers and exhibits nationally at prestigious Photography Fairs. Monroe Gallery was the recipient of the 2010 Alfred Eisenstaedt Award for Excellence in Photojournalism.

Casey Bock: Casey is a student and an artist. Casey received her Bachelor of Arts from University of New Mexico in Communication/Media Studies. She is Vice President of AAF Lobo Edge Advertising, UNM Art Student and artist. She currently works at UNM as an administrative assistance and at Sandia Prep as a marketing intern. Casey has also been following trends in appropriation art and has created appropriated works for school projects.

Is Linking A Crime?

A very compelling read:

Via Gigaom

Criminalizing links: Why the Richard O’Dwyer case matters

"With the case, the U.S. government appears to be asserting that linking to copyright infringing files under any circumstances should not only be an offence but an extraditable offence, and that the U.S. government is fully prepared to reach into other countries and extradite their citizens when there is virtually no connection whatsoever between that person’s acts and U.S. law or jurisdiction."

The Art Market: Copyright or Wrong?

Via The Financial Times

By Georgina Adam
Published: May 20 2011 22:23


Copyright infringement is a hot issue today with Britain poised for a radical shake-up of its law on the subject. In the art market – and in the law courts – it is already squarely on the agenda as more artists incorporate “appropriation” (read: copying) into their practice. Photographers, in particular, are protesting and, in a recent high-profile case, both Richard Prince (king of appropriation) and his gallery Gagosian were found guilty of violating photographer Patrick Cariou’s rights. Prince made collages using Cariou’s images of Jamaican Rastafarians but barely changed them. An appeal is pending.

Matters went the other way in another case just settled. The European court in The Hague has thrown out a suit brought by the French luxury goods group LVMH against Nadia Plesner, a Dutch art student. In her painting “Darfurnica”, Plesner showed a starving African child clutching a swanky Louis Vuitton “Audra” handbag. Inspired by Picasso’s “Guernica”, the work is designed to draw attention to the conflict in Darfur and western indifference to it. It was put on sale in a Danish gallery for €67,000.

Vuitton accused Plesner of copyright infringement and won the initial case against her in January. She was fined almost €500,000 for continuing to display the painting. Vuitton had previously stopped Plesner showing a similar image on T-shirts and posters. But this time the artist fought back and the court has reversed the decision, ruling that the artist’s freedom of expression outweighed the importance of Vuitton’s protection of property. Plesner doesn’t have to pay the fine, the picture can be exhibited publicly and Vuitton has to pay part of her costs. “We [artists] have won back our freedom to make reference to the modern society we live in,” said Plesner. Her painting is currently on display at the small Herning Museum of Contemporary Art in Denmark. Because of the increased public interest, the show has been extended to June 19.

Related: APPROPRIATION: PHOTOGRAPHY, ART, AND "STEALING"