Illegal Art and VARA

William Patry comments on an interesting law article dissecting whether or not the Visual Artists Rights Act (VARA) applies to art which is illegally installed on another person or company’s property. Patry cites a previous New York court ruling where the Court held that “VARA does not apply to artwork that is illegally placed on the property of others, without their consent, when such artwork cannot be removed from the site in question.” Seems that unless eventual destruction is part of the “installed” project’s concept there’s not much protection for interventionist artists. We have a feeling this is not the last time we’ll hear about this issue.