Corsi di Studio del Dipartimento di Economia e Statistica "Cognetti de Martiis"

There are no prerequisites for the course. Although some background in intellectual property would be helpful, none is required.

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The course aims to enable students to

• differentiate and appraise research and methods in the fields of law, aesthetics, visual arts  with specific reference to the case studies chosen during the course to illustrate these fields;
• evaluate and critically reflect on scholarship and critical approaches to law and arts as these are raised and depicted in contemporary visual materials;
• explore and synthesise key contemporary debates shared across the disciplines of law and visual arts including authorship, creativity and originality,preservation of artworks.

Throughout class discussions and suggested readings students will  be able

• to engage in critical thinking about the role that law and the arts mutually play in the practice of contemporary art;
• to understand responsibility and rights of the different actors (artists, museum curators, dealers) in the field of visual art production and distribution;
• to identify actual shortcomings and uncertainties in the law when it is challenged by contemporary artists

Interactive.

Students will be required to participate in class discussions and be ready to comment on suggested readings proposed for the sessions.

 

Students will be required to participate in class discussions and will have the option of writing a 4.000 words research paper or having a take-home exam based on the proposed literature.

Paper topics must be agreed with the Teacher (they may involve local field research).

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The course offers a number of connections between the law and people\institutions who compose the world of the visual arts, including artists, museums, galleries, curators and collectors.

Being artistic creation and circulation of artwork a global phenomenon, the course mainly refers to international sources and to leading cases worldwide.

It covers the following  topics:

• what is Art in a Legal Context ? identification of artists and artworks by international regulations law-applying authorities (Judges, Customs Officials, Tax Offices);
• problematic cases before the Courts: disputing creativity, originality, parody and authenticity;
• contemporary artworks and their preservation: duties and rights of Museum’s curators and restorers

A set of readings will be made available at the beginning of and throughout the course. Those reading materials will compose the corpus of materials accompanying the course as well as the literature to be known to prepare the final assessment

 

Suggested text book (not necessary to prepare the final exam)

Judith Prowda, Visual Arts and the Law (2017), Lund Humphries: London.