The fine art industry has experienced a remarkable digital transformation in the last year and a half. At the forefront of this paradigm shift – preceding even the Covid-era – are tech-driven art collectives and projects, with teams composed of artists, programmers, engineers, software developers, data scientists and chemists, to name a few. However, a new report released on July 26 by…
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Why Artworks Using a Celebrity’s Image Could Be Legally Actionable
A slew of copyright infringement suits in the last two years within the fashion industry have one theme in common: the paparazzi are the ones filing against celebrity’s unauthorized use of images by the copyright-holding photographer. The legal trend has incited celebs to raise broader legal questions on social media, concerning the extent to which they are able to control…
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Are Contracts The Stepping Stone to Fairer Terms for Artists?
Art & Counsel spoke with Californian artist Virginia Broersma on how artists can leverage 21st century advancements in technology – as well as the newly created FARE contract – to achieve certain rights following the resale of their works. The romantic notion of the starving artist who only is concerned with making their work, and doesn’t worry about contracts or…
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50 Years On: How the ARRTSA Model Continues to Influence Artists’ Rights
In 1971, the brain-child of conceptual art dealer Seth Siegelaub and New York lawyer Robert Projansky revolutionized art purchase transactions. Set against the backdrop of a turbulent 1960’s that mirrors continued inequities today – think: the civil rights movement, women artist’s committees, art worker’s rights – The Artist’s Reserved Rights Transfer and Sale Agreement, also known as ARRTSA; the Siegelaub-Projanksy…
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These Art Tech Start-Ups Are Proving Why Blockchain Is Still Valuable to The Art Market
The onset of Covid-19 saw art galleries, fairs, museums and auction houses sprint to adopt augmented reality ("AR") for online-only sales, virtual viewing rooms and exhibitions (note the bizarre success of a Sotheby's cyber auction which sold Michael Jordan's old Air J'z for $560,000 despite a global health crisis). A significant number of beta stage art tech companies are now…
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Blockchain x Art: More Tech Start-Ups Disrupting The Art Market
This piece is the second in a two-part series that explores the potential art-world impact of blockchain. Read Part I to find out what blockchain is, what NFC is and why art market participants should care. LEGAL COMPLIANCE Legal compliance may also incentivize art businesses to utilize blockchain platforms. In a 2019 article titled ‘Fine Art Certificates of Authenticity: Are…
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What New York Art Collective MSCHF’s Destruction of a $30,000 Damien Hirst Taught Us About Artist’s Moral Rights
MSCHF, the outlandish New York art collective, have done it again. And if – by ‘it’ – you guessed ‘severing’ a limited edition Damien Hirst ‘Spot Painting’ print and reselling its collective 88 pieces for nearly twice the total amount – you wouldn’t be far off. Because they’ve sold what’s left of the painting too. Hirst’s ‘L-Isoleucine T-Butyl Ester’ (2018)…
