Research Handbook on Art and Law

‘The collection of essays edited by Jani McCullen and Fiona McGaughey is a welcome contribution to the thorny relationship between law and the arts. This volume offers diversified perspectives on law and art, both through the examination of copyright and the various laws presiding the protection of the work of art. The examination of how law permeates art and, conversely, how art can be instrumental in exposing the miscarriages of law, makes this critical work a milestone in the studies concerning the interrelation between law and art, going well beyond the way law and art have been connected and compared so far.’
– Daniela Carpi, Pólemos: Law, Literature & Culture

‘This volume offers diversified perspectives on law and art, both through the examination of copyright and the various laws presiding the protection of the work of art. The examination of how law permeates art and, conversely, how art can be instrumental in exposing the miscarriages of law, makes this critical work a milestone in the studies concerning the interrelation between law and art, going well beyond the way law and art have been connected and compared so far.’
– Daniela Carpi, Pólemos

‘In an age where imaginative thinking is needed more than ever, this lively meeting of minds is a most welcome endeavor. Moving beyond registers of opposition, this wide-ranging collection addresses the intersection of art and law as a necessary provocation for thinking more deeply about what it means to live fully and justly. Lawyers, judges, legal theorists, philosophers, curators and artists are deftly brought together, making this Research Handbook invaluable for anyone invested in the intersection of law and culture.’
– Joan Kee, University of Michigan, US

‘In a world increasingly dominated by the visual – a world also in which “the law” and its promise of justice absorb giant and global political and interdisciplinary challenges – there is no more timely book than this one investigating the relationships between visual art and law.’
– Jessica Silbey, Northeastern University, US

Contributors: J. Barrett, M. Blakeney, E. Bonadio, N.J. Bullot, S. Burke, G. Dale, E. Denby, C. Dent, P. Green-Armytage, L. Harrop, R. Herz, M. Iljadica, N.L. Jones, S. Joseph, S.K. Katyal, A. Kushnir, J. Lindley, D. Manderson, J. McCutcheon, F. McGaughey, N. Modrzewski, D. Mossenson, J.R. Murphy, A Palmer, A. Scardamaglia, E.E. Subotnik, B. Wardle

Contents:

Foreword xiv

Introduction to the Research Handbook on Art and Law 1
Jani McCutcheon and Fiona McGaughey

PART I COPYRIGHT’S RIGHTS IN ART
1 Making art from words: the picturisation adaptation right in copyright law 11
Jani McCutcheon
2 The fine art of rummaging: successors and the life cycle of copyright 26
Eva E Subotnik

PART II COPYRIGHT’S REGULATION OF ART
3 Regulating the artist: laws, norms and practices 42
Chris Dent
4 Copying artistic works: copyright, aesthetics, and artistic practice 59
Jonathan Barrett
5 The Prince and the President’s daughter: a tale of copyright and
contemporary art 77
Julian R Murphy and Nicholas Modrzewski

PART III THE OUTER BOUNDARIES OF ART IN LAW
6 The curator’s copyright 95
Alana Kushnir
7 Patentability and fine art 114
Michael Blakeney
8 Untangling copyright and trade marks in art and advertising 129
Amanda Scardamaglia
9 Demystifying colour regulation in art – protecting substances, appearances
and beyond 142
Ema Denby, Paul Green-Armytage and Jani McCutcheon

PART IV REGULATING ‘BAD’ ART
10 Preventing art forgery and fraud through emerging technology: application
of a regulatory pluralism model 160
Jade Lindley
11 The effectiveness of Australia’s legal system in addressing problematic artwork 177
Dan Mossenson

PART V ART, LAW AND THE PUBLIC INTEREST
12 Preserving street art and graffiti: can the law reconcile the (often conflicting)
rights of artists, property owners and local communities? 194
Enrico Bonadio
13 Classifying art in diverse legal regimes: the function-aesthetic divide and the
public interest 209
Marta Iljadica

PART VI ART CRITIQUING OR GIRDING LEGAL SYSTEMS
14 The exorcist: law’s crimes and art’s super powers 225
Desmond Manderson
15 Lady injustice: inequality and legal iconography 239
Ben Wardle

PART VII LAW IN ART
16 Intellectual property law as artistic medium 259
Shane Burke
17 On The Nullians 278
Jani McCutcheon
18 Thinking through seeing: legal minds and images 286
Ruth Herz

PART VIII MULTIPLICITY OF INTERPRETATIONS
19 The public good in poetic justice: on the art (and law) of
Felix Gonzalez-Torres 302
Sonia K Katyal
20 The decommission of I See Red : a case study in the relations between art and
law 318
Lee Harrop and Nicolas J Bullot

PART IX ART, LAW, VIOLENCE AND CRIME
21 A law unto themselves: murals in the Northern Ireland conflict 335
Fiona McGaughey
22 Breaking the frame: abortion under arrest in contemporary visual art? 353
Natalie Linda Jones
23 The artist turned criminal: emotional obstacles to severing the body from
the body of work 368
Gregory Dale

PART X ART IN INTERNATIONAL LAW
24 Art and human rights law 389
Sarah Joseph
25 Image and art in the Whaling in the Antarctic case 408
Alice Palmer

Index 427