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Available From UC Press
Is It Ours?
Art, Copyright, and Public Interest
Exploring artistic authorship and intellectual property in the contemporary world.
If you have tattoos, who owns the rights to the imagery inked on your body? What about the photos you just shared on Instagram? And what if you are an artist, responding to the surrounding landscape of preexisting cultural forms? Most people go about their days without thinking much about intellectual property, but it shapes all aspects of contemporary life. It is a constantly moving target, articulated through a web of laws that are different from country to country, sometimes contradictory, often contested. Some protections are necessary—not only to benefit creators and inventors but also to support activities that contribute to the culture at large—yet overly broad ownership rights stifle innovation.
Is It Ours? takes a fresh look at issues of artistic expression and creative protection as they relate to contemporary law. Exploring intellectual property, particularly copyrights, Martha Buskirk draws connections between current challenges and early debates about how something intangible could be defined as property. She examines bonds between artist and artwork, including the ways that artists or their heirs retain control over time. The text engages with fundamental questions about the interplay between authorship and ownership and the degree to which all expressions and inventions develop in response to innovations by others. Most importantly, this book argues for the necessity of sustaining a vital cultural commons.
If you have tattoos, who owns the rights to the imagery inked on your body? What about the photos you just shared on Instagram? And what if you are an artist, responding to the surrounding landscape of preexisting cultural forms? Most people go about their days without thinking much about intellectual property, but it shapes all aspects of contemporary life. It is a constantly moving target, articulated through a web of laws that are different from country to country, sometimes contradictory, often contested. Some protections are necessary—not only to benefit creators and inventors but also to support activities that contribute to the culture at large—yet overly broad ownership rights stifle innovation.
Is It Ours? takes a fresh look at issues of artistic expression and creative protection as they relate to contemporary law. Exploring intellectual property, particularly copyrights, Martha Buskirk draws connections between current challenges and early debates about how something intangible could be defined as property. She examines bonds between artist and artwork, including the ways that artists or their heirs retain control over time. The text engages with fundamental questions about the interplay between authorship and ownership and the degree to which all expressions and inventions develop in response to innovations by others. Most importantly, this book argues for the necessity of sustaining a vital cultural commons.
Martha Buskirk is Professor of Art History and Criticism at Montserrat College of Art. Her publications include Creative Enterprise: Contemporary Art between Museum and Marketplace and The Contingent Object of Contemporary Art, as well as numerous articles and catalogue essays. Her recent research was supported by Guggenheim and Clark Art Institute Fellowships.
"Martha Buskirk has taken a very basic question—is it ours?—and woven it into a thoroughly commanding narrative that deftly brings together intellectual property, art history, and critical theory in new and surprising ways. A model of clarity and rigor, this is a book for anyone seriously interested in how and why the relationship between art and law matters in a world increasingly ruled by claims of possession. An outstanding example of how art history can be brought to bear on practical issues of our time."—Joan Kee, author of Models of Integrity: Art and Law in Post-Sixties America
"A masterful, wonderfully engaging account of the role of law in the creation of art and, conversely, the role of art in the creation of law—and the valuable role of the public interest in facilitating each domain."—Sonia Katyal, Distinguished Haas Chair and Co-Director, Berkeley Center for Law and Technology, University of California, Berkeley, School of Law
"This is another fascinating and important book from Martha Buskirk. Is It Ours? adds a bold, illuminating, and much-needed contribution to the growing conversation about art and copyright law."—Amy Adler, Emily Kempin Professor of Law, NYU School of Law
"A masterful, wonderfully engaging account of the role of law in the creation of art and, conversely, the role of art in the creation of law—and the valuable role of the public interest in facilitating each domain."—Sonia Katyal, Distinguished Haas Chair and Co-Director, Berkeley Center for Law and Technology, University of California, Berkeley, School of Law
"This is another fascinating and important book from Martha Buskirk. Is It Ours? adds a bold, illuminating, and much-needed contribution to the growing conversation about art and copyright law."—Amy Adler, Emily Kempin Professor of Law, NYU School of Law