Renegades of Art & Law
If you’re into lawbreakers and heart breakers, then U.C. Berkeley School of Law scholar Sonia Katyal is the art law scholar for you. Primarily an intellectual property, art law, civil rights (including gender, race and sexuality), property theory, and technology/new media thinker, Sonia has a particular interest in how artists break and challenge the law in order to bring attention to law’s own fiction and oppression. Of notable interest is her law review article, Property Outlaws, c0-authored with formidable property scholar, Eduardo M. Peñalver.
If you’re of the appropriation should know no boundaries or borders, then NYU’s art law guru Amy Adler is for you. I’ve had the pleasure of visiting Amy’s art law class and debate the pros, cons and relevancy of current appropriation practices and moral rights, and Amy can certainly pose interesting, unique and non-Marxist challenges to current copyright and moral rights law.
This post would certainly be out of whack if Martha Buskirk was not in the mix. After all, Martha gave us the seminal texts on Tilted Arc and artistic authorship and ownership. One key aspect I appreciate much about Martha is that she’s not afraid to dive right into the complexity of legal texts without ejecting the artistic and aesthetic. A true gift indeed.
Earlier this year I had the pleasure of being on a panel at RISD on aesthetics and law. This is where I met Brian Soucek, law prof over at UC Davis School of Law. A scholar on antidiscrimination law and civil procedure, Brian is also generating interesting material on how U.S. Courts have defined “art” and, more importantly, on why the law should have a say on what is and isn’t art. Controversial, indeed!
These are some heavy-hitters, and they’re being joined by up-and-coming thinkers such as Nate Harrison (PhD, UCSD), who focuses on digital media and appropriation practices. I’ve had Nate lead seminars for the Art & Law Program and it’s been a real treat seeing him develop his arguments to include the ethics of cultural appropriation. Nate’s the guy that made a video on the history of the most appropriated riff of all time, which you can watch here, along with millions of other viewers. And here’s an interesting online article on The Pictures Generation and the U.S. Copyright Act. I look forward to seeing more of his work.
If you’re interested in a fresh approach to copyright and artistic practices, look no further than Colby Chamberlain (PhD, Columbia University), who approaches intellectual property via the artistic movement known as Fluxus and the artist-provocateur, George Maciunas. If you think, as I do, that copyright/appropriation conversations are generally tired and predictable, take a look at Colby’s recent work for guidance on how bureaucratic and legal procedures are used to inform aesthetic practices.
A more controversial approach to appropriation and copyright is voiced by artist and arts lawyer, Alfred Steiner. Alfred is one of those rare artist-lawyer types who does not shy away from controversy or thoughts on art and copyright.
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