Artists’ group treads a fine copyright line

With government interest in reforming the Copyright Act resurgent, a coalition of artists, galleries, curators and others in the fine arts are determined to have their say on "appropriation art" and how it relates to copyright. The Coalition of Art Professionals was founded mid-May expressly to influence the copyright reform process. Spokesman Gordon Duggan says it came out of a Calgary-based project looking at the issue of appropriation art – artistic works that borrow from other art, mass media, or other images. "Basically…you take something existing, and you rework it to have a new meaning and you make it into something new and original," Duggan says, explaining the appropriation art genre. " often deal with the meaning of works," he tells Canadian NEW MEDIA. "They’re not specifically about the source material." While the copyright attached to works does eventually expire – currently, most works enter the public domain 50 years after the death of their author – many appropriation artists draw on material for which copyright is still intact. However, it’s imperative that appropriation artists be able to reference and draw on contemporary works as social critics and commentators, Duggan says. "Appropriation artists require access to the cultural works of our time, and in order to develop the work need to be able to talk about things that are going on today, not 50 years after the life of the artist," he says. In addition to its concerns over any reforms that would strengthen creators’ rights and sanctions for circumventing technical protection measures (TPMs) such as those found on CDs, one of the concessions the coalition is pushing for is a US-style fair use provision for artistic use of copyrighted works. The change, it says, will give more latitude to appropriation artists than Canada’s current fair dealing language. In an email exchange with Canadian NEW MEDIA, University of Ottawa law professor and Canada Research Chair of Internet and E-Commerce law Michael Geist noted that the coalition is not alone in their desire to see fair dealing replace fair use. "The students focused on the same issue from an educational perspective, and even the musicians touched on fair use within the context of device shifting," he said. "I think the fair use issue is a big one." While the coalition hasn’t yet advanced its own ideas for solving the copyright conundrum as it pertains to appropriation artists, Duggan says the group has given it some thought. One possible approach is to limit the number of copies that can be made of a work that appropriates material from other works, thereby negating the perception of large-scale piracy for commercial gain. However, he admits, such a proviso could be problematic for video artists, who often reproduce their work to a greater extent than sculptors or painters. Another possible solution lies in the fact that works that use appropriated material are often not competing in the same marketplace – for instance, an independent video artist who borrows from Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho and transforms it into a markedly different work would not be wreaking any material harm on the exhibition or sale of the original work. Finally, Duggan says, "another important point is that the value of the appropriated work is not related to the value of the original." He points to American artist Jeff Koon’s famous wood sculpture – a work valued in the six figures – which was based on a postcard. When the photographer sued Koons, he argued the work was social criticism – permissible under US fair use provisions – but ultimately lost. "He settled in the end, but he shouldn’t have," Duggan says. " did great damage to the cause." However, Duggan admits, artists in a wide variety of media themselves rely on copyright to protect their works. "There will be a huge number of people who will step up and say, ‘We’re artists, we want our work protected more.’ It’s a difficult balance."

Artists’ group treads a fine copyright line

Broadcast | June 12, 2006

Unlock all the Canadian telecom, broadcasting and digital media news you need.

FREE TRIAL

SUBSCRIBE

Inside The Wire Report

Information

Hill Times Publishing

Get in Touch With Us