Art and culture law is the body of law, including domestic and foreign law, and multilateral treaties and conventions, that regulates and is applied to artists, fine art and cultural property. Art can expose society's faults and freedoms and often artistic expression can conflict with cultural and political ideals. Yet equally, art can also make sense of law - advancing dialogues on social injustice.
Areas of art and culture law
* Art and
cultural property
Cultural property does not have a universal definition, but it is commonly considered to be tangible (physical, material) items that are part of the cultural heritage of a group or society, as opposed to less tangible cultural expressions. They i ...
law
* Art and
cultural heritage law
*
Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works (1971)
*
Copyright
A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, educatio ...
litigation
*
Cultural property
Cultural property does not have a universal definition, but it is commonly considered to be tangible (physical, material) items that are part of the cultural heritage of a group or society, as opposed to less tangible cultural expressions. They i ...
disputes
*
Cultural property law
Cultural property law is the body of law that protects and regulates the disposition of culturally significant material, including historic real property, ancient and historic artifacts, artwork, and intangible cultural property. Cultural propert ...
* Federal cultural property legislation
* International cultural property protection
*
Moral rights
Moral rights are rights of creators of copyrighted works generally recognized in civil law jurisdictions and, to a lesser extent, in some common law jurisdictions.
The moral rights include the right of attribution, the right to have a work ...
Theories
John Henry Merryman is a pioneer of cultural and artistic property law academia. He has drawn distinctions between ''two'' paradigms through which art and cultural law can be defined. The ''first'' is the subject being independent of its national ties and attracting significance and meaning from the historical or archaeological interest that is generated by human culture. This is idea is legally bolstered by the UNESCO definition of cultural objects which is a close definition of significant objects which attract interest.
[Article 1, The UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property of 1970.] The ''second'' inextricably ties cultural objects to their national heritage which in turn legitimises efforts for their re-patriation (see
Elgin marbles
The Elgin Marbles (), also known as the Parthenon Marbles ( el, Γλυπτά του Παρθενώνα, lit. "sculptures of the Parthenon"), are a collection of Classical Greece, Classical Greek marble sculptures made under the supervision of th ...
,
Gweagal shield,
Easter island
Easter Island ( rap, Rapa Nui; es, Isla de Pascua) is an island and special territory of Chile in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian Triangle in Oceania. The island is most famous for its ne ...
).
References
External links
The Art Law BlogNational Coalition Against Censorship Art Law DatabaseAuthentication in Art: Art & Law
Civil law (common law)
Intellectual property law
International law
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