Returning Stolen Art

Loot: Stolen Treasurers of the Ancient World

December 3, 2008

Sharon Waxman writer

Sharon Waxman discusses questions of ownership of cultural objects and reads from new her book, Loot: Stolen Treasures of the Ancient World.
Why are the Elgin Marbles in London and not on the Acropolis? If such stunning art objects have admittedly come to Western museums through the heavy hand of 19th century cultural exploitation, do these museums have an ethical responsibility to return them? What if such return harmed these objects because their home country is too poor to maintain, house and protect? What ethical standards should Western museums follow when they obtain art objects from Third World countries? Sharon Waxman addresses these questions and presents her book, Loot: Stolen Treasures of the Ancient World.

http://forum-network.org/lecture/loot-stolen-treasurers-ancient-world

Art Theft

The Art of the Steal

January 21, 2009

Spalding Nix art appraiser, Spalding Nix Fine Art & Antiques [homepage]

Spalding Nix, associate member of the American Society of Appraisers and proprietor of Spalding Nix Fine Art & Antiques, discusses infamous works of art and the daring criminals that steal them. Nix reveals how this criminal enterprise has become an international multi-billion dollar industry, third only to global drug and arms trafficking.

http://forum-network.org/lecture/art-steal-spalding-nix

10 Arts Law Cases

From the same series as the previous post. 10 cases in arts law from the USA covering resale royalties, authentication and a few other areas of interest to artists, retailers and collectors.

Art Salon | Art Law | 10 Cases: And Why They Matter To You from Art Basel Miami Beach on Vimeo.

Josh Baer, Publisher of Baer Faxt and Art Advisor, New York
Peter R. Stern, Lawyer, McLaughlin & Stern LLP, New York

Digital Art Law

An excellent overview of the many issues arising from the proliferation of art imagery on the internet. A must view for all artists. Discussion on appropriation and mis-appropriation, copyright and artist's self protection. USA law based but internationally relevent.

Art Salon | Art Law Talk | Art Law in the Digital Age from Art Basel Miami Beach on Vimeo.

Lawrence M. Kaye, Esq. Co-Chair of International Art Law Group, Herrick, Feinstein LLP

Howard N. Spiegler, Esq. Co-Chair of International Art Law Group, Herrick, Feinstein LLP

Google, Books & Copyright

On September 12 this year, the Authors Guild in the USA, the Australian Society of Authors, the Quebec Union of Writers and a number of individual authors filed suit against a partnership of five American universities and research libraries (the same universities involved in the Google Books case), over what the plaintiffs described as “one of the largest copyright infringements in history”. [1]

According to the Complaint [2]: “The Universities have directly caused millions of works that are protected by copyright holders to be scanned, stored in digital format, repeatedly copied and made available online for various uses. These actions not only violate the exclusive rights of copyright holders…but, by creating at least two databases connected to the Internet that store millions of digital copies of copyrighted books, the Universities risk the widespread, unauthorised and irreparable dissemination of these works.”

full story

http://www.copyright.org.au/news-and-policy/details/id/200

Artworld Scandal - UK

" .. when Philip Mould, a Mayfair gallery owner and Antiques Roadshow regular, came under attack from a poison pen writer .. Mould hired private investigators as a last resort – and within days they had made a discovery which has sent shockwaves through the art world. The author of the dirty tricks campaign was unmasked as Mark Weiss, one of London’s most respected art dealers"

For two years he fought to save his reputation, and his marriage, as false allegations of infidelity and financial problems were planted in newspapers and on the internet by an unidentified enemy.

full story
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/8498981/Mayfair-art-dealer-Mark-Weiss-in-disgrace-after-admitting-poison-pen-campaign-against-rival-Philip-Mould.html

Arts Law: Stolen Art

The Rutgers Law-Newark Art Law Society and the Institute for Professional Education Presents Stolen Art: Litigating Holocaust-era Expropriation Claims by Raymond Dowd, Esquire. This event was moderated by prof. Carol Roehrenbeck


continues here:
http://lawevents.rutgers.edu/events/artlaw11/

for some reason the embed code isnt working - follow the link to watch the video - ed

Blackman v Gant

"This is an important case for artists as it means that they are able to bring an action against someone who sells and/or supplies fake works of art attributed to them on the grounds that it may harm their reputation, and consequently the value of their work in the art market."
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"A Victorian Supreme Court case in March 2010 brings hope to artists seeking to protect their reputations against art dealers selling fake artworks. The case, Blackman v Gant,¹ involved eminent Australian artists Charles Blackman and Robert Dickerson bringing action against the art dealer who sold fake artworks under their names."

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full story here
http://www.artslaw.com.au/enewsletter/JUNE10/JUNE10-FA-Fake_Artworks.html

Andy Warhol - Authentification

A program from the BBC about the process of authentifying what constitutes an Andy Warhol. This is part 1 of 7 parts.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mA1NBGtIlHE

Plagiarism - a USA definition

The code defines plagiarism as, "...the representation of someone else’s words, ideas, or work as one’s own without attribution. Plagiarism may involve using someone else’s wording without using quotation marks—a distinctive name, a phrase, a sentence, or an entire passage or essay. Misrepresenting sources is another form of plagiarism. The issue of plagiarism applies to any type of work, including exams, papers, or other writing, computer programs, art, music, photography, video, and other media."

from American University's Academic Integrity Code.


All students are governed by American University's Academic Integrity Code. The Academic Integrity Code details specific violations of ethical conduct that relate to academic integrity. By registering, you have acknowledged your awareness of the Academic Integrity Code, and you are obliged to become familiar with your rights and responsibilities as defined by the code. All of your work (whether oral or written) in any and all classes is governed by the provisions of the Academic Integrity Code. Academic violations include but are not limited to: plagiarism, inappropriate collaboration, dishonesty in examinations whether in class or take home, dishonesty in papers, work done for one course and submitted to another, deliberate falsification of data, interference with other students' work, and copyright violations. The adjudication process and possible penalties are listed in American University's Academic Integrity Code booklet, and is also available on the American University website. Being a member of this academic community entitles each of us to a wide degree of freedom and the pursuit of scholarly interests; with that freedom, however, comes a responsibility to uphold the high ethical standards of scholarly conduct.

The full code can be found at
http://www.american.edu/academics/integrity/code.htm

====================

I can name a number of sites and individuals guilty of plagiarising from the Print Australia sites. You know who you are.

There's also incidences where my work has been published online without attribution. The saying is that "imitiation is the most sincere form of flattery."

Intellectual Property Colloquium Podcasts

An online audio program devoted to intellectual property topics. From the USA, therefore USA law applies.

for more info and to listen

http://www.ipcolloquium.com/about.html

Franck Gohier

Franck Gohier, "Target",
opening at Ray Hughes Gallery
this Friday 24th July, 6-8pm

Franck Gohier’s newest series, Target, directs his attention toward a new set of targets – the economy, environment and the NT intervention among them – with characteristic humour. Pop culture references, classic cartoon illustration and razor-sharp wit are the bullets in his gun.
“In my studio I appropriate the first comic book image I see that speaks to me. I then paint about the first subject that the image suggests on an instinctive level ......and so the painting develops. Chance and necessity......the rest is fine tuning.”

http://www.rayhughesgallery.com/

========================
Franck is obviously a fan of both "Space invader" and "Faile" street artists. (see blakkbyrd blog for more info)

Google Book Theft

"... It is as immediate as next Tuesday week. May 5th is the deadline – the arbitrary, gun-to-the-head deadline – for writers around the world to opt in or out of the settlement reached in the New York courts between Google, the Authors Guild of America, and the Association of American Publishers.

This is a private settlement, negotiated in secret in one country, and it has yet to be debated or approved in open court. Yet, because both copyright law and the internet function globally, it affects almost every book published anywhere. Whether or not an Irish writer, for example, has been physically published in the US, he or she has a “US copyright interest” and is therefore part of the legal “class” covered by the settlement.

Thus, over the next few days, every author has to do one of two things. (Doing nothing is not an option – failure to act means that you are automatically assumed to be bound by the deal.) You can actively opt out (at www.googlebooksettlement.com), which means that you retain control over your own copyright and can sue Google if those rights are breached. Or you can opt in, which means that in return for a pathetic payment (most of the $125 million that Google is coughing up will go the lawyers – authors will get a measly $60 per book), Google can display large chunks of your work for free and sell downloads of the whole thing.

There’s a strong element of coercion here. No one outside the US has even been consulted. The assumption that you’ve opted in unless you’ve opted out is strikingly authoritarian."

full article - Irish Times
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/weekend/2009/0425/1224245347234.html

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FAQs at Google
http://www.googlebooksettlement.com/help/bin/answer.py?answer=118704&hl=en#extension_explanation

This lawsuit involves the Google Library Project. In 2004, Google announced that it had entered into agreements with several libraries to digitize books, including books protected by U.S. copyright law, in those libraries’ collections. Several authors and publishers brought this lawsuit against Google, claiming that its digitization without permission infringed their copyrights. In response to the authors’ and publishers’ claims of copyright infringement, Google argued that its digitization of the books and display of snippets, or a few lines, of the books is permitted under the U.S. copyright law’s doctrine of "fair use." Instead of resolving the legal dispute over whether Google’s digitization and display of the books is permissible under U.S. law as a "fair use," the parties negotiated a settlement.

... You should assume that you own a U.S. copyright interest in your Book, unless you are certain that your Book was published in, and that you reside and are located in, one of the few countries that have not had or do not now have copyright relations with the United States.

..... If you do nothing, you will be bound by the Settlement. If you do not claim your Books, you will not receive any Cash Payment or be able to participate in future revenue from Google’s use of your Books. By staying in the Settlement, you will, however, release all copyright infringement claims you might have against Google for digitizing your Books without your permission

On originality

"Plagiarism is a related but logically distinct kind of fraud. It involves the passing off as one’s own of the words or ideas of another. The most obvious cases of plagiarism have an author publishing in his own name a text that was written by someone else. If the original has already been published, the plagiarist is at risk of being discovered, although plagiarism may be impossible to prove if the original work, or all copies of it, is hidden or destroyed. Since publication of plagiarized work invites wide scrutiny, plagiarism is, unlike forgery, a difficult fraud to accomplish as a public act without detection. In fact, the most common acts of plagiarism occur not in public, but in the private sphere of work that students submit to their teachers."

full text
Authenticity in Art
Denis Dutton

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"Here I would like to open the limited dialogue between art history and aesthetics on this subject by exploring the ways that forgeries, copies, and originals function within historical and critical discourse."

full text
From Original to Copy and Back Again
James Elkins

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more papers
http://interdisciplines.org/artcognition/papers/

Han van Meegeren - audio lecture

The Man Who Made Vermeers: Unvarnishing the Legend of Master Forger Han van Meegeren
Jonathan Lopez, writer and historian

Lopez, author of The Man Who Made Vermeers: Unvarnishing the Legend of Master Forger Han van Meegeren, tracks down primary sources in four countries and five languages to reveal for the first time the real story of the world's most famous forger. In this Notable Lectures podcast, recorded on January 11, 2009, as part of the Gallery's winter lecture series, Lopez talks about the intriguing details of deceit in the art world between the wars and a talented Mr. Ripley—armed with a brush—who made a fortune painting and selling fake "old masters."

Listen | iTunes | RSS (57:28 mins.)

Turner Prize 2008

http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/turnerprize/turnerprize2008/

Four artists are nominated for the Turner Prize each year. This year they are:

Runa Islam
Mark Leckey
Goshka Macuga
Cathy Wilkes

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Its not original work. There is a growing trend of digging up the work of an earlier artist and "re-presenting" (ie copying) it, that is of concern here.

"Macuga's Turner Prize room contains three sculptural installations that reinterpret the work of Mies van der Rohe's partner Lilly Reich, who pioneered new ways of designing exhibitions in the 1930s. The room also contains a series of “assemblages” - collages of works from the original archives of the artist couple Paul Nash and Eileen Agar."

"This, perhaps, is the feeling that Leckey seeks to capture in his contemporary take on the William Burroughs cut-up. ....I think that the thing with Leckey's room is it is presenting other people's work: it helps the viewer to understand the ideas that are behind contemporary art as it is now."

reviews

Christoph Büchel & Mass MoCA

full story

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/16/

extracts

“Training Ground for Democracy” was to be assembled at the museum’s expense, with its staff members seeking out and installing items on a long list in collaboration with Mr. Büchel. His outsize list included a two-story Cape Cod cottage, a leaflet-bomb carousel, an old bar from a tavern, a vintage movie theater and various banged-up rolling stock (a trailer, a mobile home, a bus, a truck). Nine full-size shipping containers were requested. There was even to be a re-creation of Saddam Hussein’s spider hole. But things did not go smoothly. By the end of January, and well past the scheduled Dec. 16 opening date, Mr. Büchel had departed for good and begun accusing the museum of interference, unprofessionalism and wasting his time.

The museum said it had tried mightily to gather everything on Mr. Büchel’s wish list but balked at acquiring a burnt-out fuselage of a 737 airliner. It pointed out that it had spent more than double the show’s $160,000 budget; Mr. Büchel countered that an amount had never been agreed upon.

Now the components of “Training for Democracy” loom as if in a desolate ghost town, surreally camouflaged by plastic tarps in Building 5. Mass MoCA says it shrouded the elements pending a court decision that it hopes will allow it to display the installation.



Mr. Thompson, director of Mass MoCA, said the museum had “clearly bent over backwards” for Mr. Büchel. Yet by opening the show, covered, last spring against Mr. Büchel’s wishes and now seeking a court’s go-ahead to remove the tarps, the museum renders all of that moot. If an artist who conceived a work says that it is unfinished and should not be exhibited, it isn’t — and shouldn’t be. End of story.

(His lawyer cites a federal law that says as much, the Visual Artist Rights Act. But Mass MoCA argues that the law applies only to finished works of art.)

It’s hard for a museum to recover when it forfeits the high ground. To this day the Corcoran Gallery of Art remains infamous for canceling its 1989 exhibition of Robert Mapplethorpe photographs after his work was denounced by Senator Jesse Helms, Republican of North Carolina.




Although there may be parts of the installation proper that Mr. Büchel considers finished, what is visible above and below the tarps today is barely the skeleton of a Büchel. It’s just a lot of stuff.

You are reminded of Hollywood, where directors (that is, artists) are routinely denied “final cut.” Of course, Renaissance popes often had final cut too. But I prefer to invoke the spirit of Robert Rauschenberg, who, when asked to contribute to a show of portraits of the Paris dealer Iris Clert in 1961, sent a telegram that read, “This is a portrait of Iris Clert if I say so.”

In the end it doesn’t matter how many people toil on a work of art, or how much money is spent on it. The artist’s freedom includes the right to say, “This is not a work of art unless I say so.”

========================================
Boston Globe

The public never saw artist Christoph Büchel's giant installation at Mass MoCA. Now, as the museum takes it apart, documents filed in a bitter lawsuit offer a behind-the-scenes look at just what went wrong.

full story

http://www.boston.com/ae/theater_arts/articles/2007/10/21/dismantled/

Last month US District Court Judge Michael Ponsor ruled Mass MoCA could open the unfinished installation to the public. Instead museum director Joseph C. Thompson (no relation to Nato) decided to dismantle it. The yearlong battle had worn down his staff, and a Jenny Holzer exhibit was due to open in the space soon. Mass MoCA, Joe Thompson said, wanted to move on.

But the fallout from this fiasco continues, even as the art world digests its lessons. Büchel has appealed the court ruling. Michele Maccarone, the New York gallery director who represents Büchel in the United States, said she will tell collectors not to support the museum and will steer her stable of artists, including Christian Jankowski and Carol Bove, away from the institution. Mass MoCA is planning a symposium this fall on the now notorious disaster.

And thanks to thousands of pages of documents filed in court, the dispute could serve as the ultimate how-not-to guide in the complicated world of installation art. Internal e-mails, letters, and planning documents reviewed by the Globe reveal, in the starkest terms, the depth of animosity between the artist and the museum. The communications also detail Mass MoCA's missteps along the way and the museum's repeated attempts to salvage the show, even as curators inside leveled criticism at the difficult artist.


=================================
Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art

http://www.massmoca.org/event_details.php?id=144

Training Ground for Democracy

Exhibition cancelled
Building 5

For additional information on this cancelled exhibition http://blog.massmoca.org/ visit our blog

MASS MoCA has cancelled the presentation of Training Ground for Democracy, a large-scale installation planned with Swiss artist Christoph Büchel. While MASS MoCA has provided double the original budget, increased the available time for installation by a factor of three, and made available to the artist significant additional funding to return and complete the work, the artist has so far not returned to North Adams to finish the work.

++++++++++++

(North Adams, Mass. – Tuesday, May 22, 2007) MASS MoCA announced today that it has cancelled the presentation of Training Ground for Democracy, a large-scale installation planned with Swiss artist Christoph Büchel. Although Training Ground for Democracy has not been completed, the cancellation enables MASS MoCA to present Made at MASS MoCA, a documentary project exploring the issues raised in the course of complex collaborative projects between artists and institutions. The new exhibition will open on Saturday, May 26, 2007.
++++++++++

Intellectual Property (IP) online

This guide deals with Intellectual Property (IP) online, particularly copyright.

The rise of the global information infrastructure and recognition that the 'property of the mind' is a major driver of national economies and culture has led many to question the nature and viability of copyright and other forms of intellectual property such as trademarks.

Being online means grasping the challenges of intellectual property: protecting what may be one of your major assets and respecting the rights of others, whether they are IP owners or IP users. The web is not a copyright-free zone. While abuses abound it is in your interest to act on a considered basis, whether you are a rights owner, a rights user or an intermediary such as an ISP.

http://www.caslon.com.au/ipguide.htm

{Australian content}

Copyright Information

copyright links from the Lyrebyrd archive.

http://www.copyright.org.au/
Online Australian Copyright Information ACC IPR Copyright Intellectual Property - news and information sheets

http://www.law.cornell.edu/treaties/berne/overview.html
Berne Convention For The Protection Of Literary And Artistic Works (Paris Text 1971)

http://fairuse.stanford.edu/
Stanford Uni - home page with links to (US) Current Legislation / Resources on the Net / Overview of Copyright Law

http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/Copyright/
Copyright site at Berkely U with lots of links to relevant material - almost all US-based.

http://www.qantm.com.au/copyright/guides.html
Links to various copyright sites and issues - Australian content.

http://rubens.anu.edu.au/copyright.html
A good source of information on local copyright law, including the Arts, from Australian National University

http://www.benedict.com/
All things related to copyright

http://www.jjkaufman.com/page11.html
Index page to articles ( Using Celebrity Images in Art /Copyright: Fair Use Overview/ Copyrights: Why You Should Register) by an American lawyer.

http://www.comvista.com/lessons/CGIScripts.html
Tutorial page. Last Edited: December 13, 1995 Copyright© 1994-1997 Jon Wiederspan

you thought we wouldn’t notice

Welcome to ‘you thought we wouldn’t notice’ a site dedicated to pointing out those thing’s that give you that feeling of ‘haven’t l seen that somewhere before?”

This is a open blog so anyone can post anything, therefore we don’t have control over what is put up.We can only delete it once it’s there.
If anyone has any issues with any of the posts please email us on ytwwn [at] youthoughtwewouldntnotice.com

Anyone posting PLEASE check your sources.
These are some of the reasons you shouldn’t post here:

• It could be a commissioned work.
  
• It could be a tribute.
  
• Or it could be credited.
• It could be the same idea by different people
  

Please check that it not the case before posting.

There is often reasons why you may have ’seen it before’ please check that your post that it doesn’t come under the following:

• Parodies: intentional copies mocking the original
• Same Influences/Inspirations: If someone was inspired by “a plane hitting a building” to create there art you can’t stop anyone else from having the same inspiration.
• References: As above & If someone makes an illustration of a photo it is still there work (look at andy warhol)
  Style: You can’t really own a style. These ones may be judge case by case. post and let the readers decide.
• Artist Vs Artist stuff is just so bitchy, I would much rather see artist vs company issues posted here

Some post may be left due to the comments that are more interesting then the post, but we try to delete anything before it gets that far.

If you need help in posting please see the ‘how to’ guide here.

http://youthoughtwewouldntnotice.com/blog3/