ABSTRACT
This Introduction to our special interdisciplinary issue, ‘Art beyond Copyright’, sets out our call for a new approach to Art Law. Since we conceived of this project over two years ago, our position was and remains, first, that copyright law is irrelevant to the vast multitude of practicing artists and that it stands in direct opposition to art historians; and, second, that the myopic focus on copyright has blinded attention to conceptually and historically distinct facets of the law that inflect art practice, art history, and art law. The inadequacy of copyright and the imperative to seek out alternatives for art and law are the focus of this Introduction and of this special issue of Grey Room, in which we bring together leading voices in law, art history, art, and museums. In the years since we began work on this issue, two major developments have made the concerns we address here even more urgent: the Supreme Court’s Warhol decision and the widespread use of generative AI, both of which we address here. Our hope is that the interdisciplinary approach we take in this Introduction and in the accompanying issue will spur new conversations and debates in the worlds of art, law, and their myriad intersections.
Elcott, Noam and Adler, Amy M, Editors’ Introduction: Art Beyond Copyright (January 1, 2024), Grey Room, no 94, Winter 2024, at 6; New York University School of Law, Public Law Research Paper No 24-27; New York University Law and Economics Research Paper No 24-29.
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