The Decommission of 'I See Red': A Case Study in the Relations between Art and Law

Authors

Lee Harrop, Nicolas J. Bullot

First and Second Paragraphs

The audience of a work of art typically offers a plurality of interpretations of the work. Some of them enrich our connections with the work and its historical context. Other interpretations are problematic because they elicit responses that thwart fundamental artistic freedoms and human rights. The latter include responses promoting the destruction of cultural heritage and the persecution of artists acting as political dissidents. There are also contested interpretations that have real legal consequences, such as classifying works as intellectual property infringements, obscene or defamatory, refusing to confer artistic status (see Section 3(ii)(a)), and exercising a legal power to decommission a work of public art. This chapter considers the problem posed by the decommission of a work beset by contested interpretations – henceforth referred to as the ‘Decommission Problem’.

The Decommission Problem may be articulated as follows: what is the normative approach that ought to guide the decision making about the decommission of a contested artwork? In this chapter, the decommission of a work of art will be understood in a broad sense that includes any decision by a commissioning body to not proceed with a commissioned artwork. ...

Reference

Harrop, L., & Bullot, N. J. (2020). The decommission of I See Red: A case study in the relations between art and law. In J. McCutcheon & F. McGaughey (Eds.), Research Handbook on Art and Law (pp. 318-334). Edward Elgar. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.4337/9781788971478.00035

Link

https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.4337/9781788971478.00035

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