There was some side discussion on Friday's trip to the Eastern State about Alex Hoyer's piece, I Always Wanted to Go to Paris, France in which three televisions play short segments from prison movies set in the locations in which viewers watch the clips. Sean Kelley, asked about the copyright implications of the piece, reported that the Prison had consulted legal council, who advised that since the clips did not exceed twenty seconds and that they were being transformed by their use in an art context, the worst probable consequence the organization could expect was that one of the copyright holders would issue a cease and desist notice. Such an action, Sean said, would result in the removal of the work.
Artsjournal.com follows this issue very closely and contains a link to a piece by law professor and copyright activist Lawrence Lessig, which can be accessed here. In it Lessig says:
"Too much of the attention on these issues has been focused on the "piracy" question. Instead, we've got to focus people on really much easier questions that the law is just as grotesque about. I'm more concerned about getting people to see how copyright generally is imposing such a burden on innovation and creativity in lots of areas that we ought to simplify it.
I want people to think about, for example, Wal-Mart refusing to print images [if the chain decides the digital photographs a customer submits could be copyrighted]. When people see examples like that, they're much more likely to be on the side of reform."
Artists are increasingly talked about as "innovators" in contemporary culture, and our ideas (as Melinda pointed out in the first class meeting) are often succesfully adopted by larger entertainment outlets. I’m curious if anyone has any comments on the "chill" Lessig talks about, or on the Prison's position with regard to Hoyer's work.
No comments:
Post a Comment