Have you ever heard something that didn’t sound right, something that just seemed wrong, yet you were never able to point out exactly what was wrong with it? I’ve had that feeling many times, and every time I think I’ve got it figured out, another idea emerges to counter my previous understanding.
For years, one question kept popping up in my mind, and I couldn’t find a good answer for it. That question was: Why can’t I photograph art?
Why do some museums, galleries and artists object to having their artwork photographed?
Part of me always instinctively shied away from photographing photographs, something about that just felt wrong to me; I’d sketch those out.
But paintings? Sculptures?
What’s wrong with taking pictures of those art forms?
Continue reading Why Can’t I Photograph Art?
Category: Legal Issues Surrounding Creativity
This section contains ideas and thoughts on legal issues surrounding artists and creators. Copyright, censorship, fraud, etc.
Stop ACTA Now!
This post is based on my ACTA YouTube video, posted November 04, 2009
In the fall of 2009, some information on the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, or ACTA, leaked out to the internet. Eventually, the entire document was leaked, but this post isn’t so much about the content of the leak; this post addresses my reaction to the very purpose and existence of the treaty itself, and my anger over the secrecy and deception that was so common during it’s creation. But, when this was originally posted, all I had was the information in that first leaked document.
And to summarize things: it’s bad.
The recent Canadian copyright consultations had the public speak out, and express their opinions on copyright law, and from the responses I came across, the public was strongly opposed to strengthening these laws. People even expressed a strong desire to loosen up these laws, abolish crown copyright, limit penalties, and expand fair dealing laws, (or, “fair use”, for those more familiar with the American terminology.) Their were calls for clear exemptions for education, research, parody, and format shifting. These things should be legal. Follow this link if you would like to see a list of the consultation results as of September 2009.
The people have spoken, and they don’t want stronger copyright in Canada. With the current political climate in Canada, the minority Conservative government’s hands are tied, (update: Bill C-32 suggests that I was wrong about this, even as a minority government, they are trying to pass laws the majority do not want.)
Then these sneaky little things called “International Trade Agreements” that come along and bypass the democratic process of my country. They can be used to push laws onto people who have recently made it very clear that they do not want these laws.
These companies have failed to adapt to a changing market place. Rather than having their business adapt to meet the desires of their customers, they are having the laws changed to enforce their business models on to their customers.
Continue reading Stop ACTA Now!
My Take on “A Copyright Story”
My last post, Copyright From an Artist’s Perspective was inspired by a fantastic blog entry I had read about a month ago. I came across an article by an artist on the subject of copyright, and while it does fall into some of the same old traps of mixing up moral, legal and economic realities, it also introduces some great new ideas. I knew it was a good entry because it made me sit, and think, and question many of my own preconceptions. Although my opinion hasn’t changed, anything that shakes me like that got to have some kind of power, and his message should be shared.
I threw together a quick post for my tumblr account, to help me clear my head and sort my thoughts. This article builds upon that one.
In the copyright debate, I have found the first article from ‘the other side’ that I think actually gets some things right. Jason Robert Brown had an excellent blog entry titled “FIGHTING WITH TEENAGERS: A COPYRIGHT STORYâ€.
(the follow-up post might be even better, but I’m not going to get into any of those ideas right here.)
So, I’ll begin by telling the story of what happened. Mr. Brown found a bunch of his content on a file-sharing site. His work was being pirated. Rather than suing his fans (which is very stupid) he created an account on a file sharing site, identified the people who were distributing his content, and he very politely asked them to stop. He went though everyone offering up his content, and on an individual basis, he sent them a message asking them to stop. He was polite and professional about it (which is smart). I think it’s really cool of him to go and do this himself, and I think it was very good of him to explain that he is not ok with his content being shared like that, and many people stopped right away. He made a convincing moral argument, and most people listened. Most people. Not everyone.
Continue reading My Take on “A Copyright Story”
Copyright From an Artist’s Perspective
I have been following the copyfight since the days of Napster (that’s 11 years now). Despite being an artist myself, I have always instinctively sided with the more anti-strong copyright leanings of the tech crowd. This seems to put my opinion at odds with most of the other artists I encounter. I am slowly learning that my stance on copyright isn’t something that can be politely discussed among artists.
“Information wants to be free†is the meme that best captures the gist of the free-culture perspective. That quote is only a small part of what Stewart Brand actually said at the first Hackers’ Conference in 1984. The full quote was, “On the one hand information wants to be expensive, because it’s so valuable. The right information in the right place just changes your life. On the other hand, information wants to be free, because the cost of getting it out is getting lower and lower all the time. So you have these two fighting against each other”. By “free” Brand was talking more about control than he was about price. But, over time, the exact meaning and extra words were dropped, and “Information wants to be free” is what people remember.
I have never been the slightest bit convinced by any of the arguments from the side pushing for stronger enforcement and stronger copyright law. The copyright debate reads almost like arguments from the evolution/creationism ‘debate’; one side has logic, reason, and an ever-growing body of evidence, while the other side has charisma, wilful ignorance, and very deep pockets.
In the copyright debate, I am drawn to the techy side because their arguments actually follow, they eschew passion and emotion and focus on the cold hard reality. They focus on what is. The supporters of strong copyright tend to focus on what ought to be. The heated nature of the debate comes from what I think is a misunderstanding of the other side’s position. People on the pro-copyright side are making moral arguments about what people should do, while those on the anti-strong-copyright side are making economic arguments about what people actually are doing.
I’ve just never found these moral arguments to be the least bit convincing. File trading is out there, it happens, and it can’t be stopped anytime soon in the foreseeable future. Telling people that they shouldn’t share files because, “it’s wrong”, doesn’t really do anything to solve the problem.
My stance on the issue is this: If we artists are supposed to be such creative people, why don’t we stop fighting piracy, and come up with new ways of doing things that use file sharing to our advantage?
Toronto Outdoor Art Show is in Touch with Common Sense.
(This post is adapted from an entry I made on Tumblr, July 5th, 2010. The original post can be found here)
It often seems like when it comes to issues of copyright, artists tend to live in fantasy land, where what they think ought to happen can magically influence what actually does happen.
The Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition has what I think is a very fair and sensible policy: no taking photos without the artist’s permission. It’s great, an artist should be able to choose whether the images owned by them can be reproduced or not.
But these days, everyone has at least one camera on them, and artists only have two eyes. Some people and their cameras will inevitably get though. (I’ve certainly taken my share of secret photos and videos in galleries and museums.)
One of the many messages to appear in my inbox during the stressful pre-show rush led me to realize, “ah! yes! I’m not the only one who thinks this way”
The “No Photography without permission” graphic to print out came with this message:
“In reality being in a public space you cannot stop people from taking photos. This sign may help if you have concerns in this regard but it is not a guarantee by any standard.”
Thank you!
It feels good to see a sudden outbreak of common sense coming from within the art world. Those moments are few and far between.