Mass MoCA: Clean Sweep
Just a few days after a judge said that Mass MoCA could show Christoph Buchel's disputed installation in an unfinished state, the museum has decided simply to clean the thing out altogether. Geoff Edgers has the story at The Boston Globe. Over at the museum's website, Mass MoCA Director Joseph Thompson expresses his desire to move on and "to return to our core mission to serve as a experimental platform for art-making. " Next up: a Jenny Holzer installation, Projections, set to open Nov. 17.
But not so fast. On his art law blog, Donn Zaretsky, who was one of Buchel's attorneys, points out the enduring legal residue of this case. It appears to have created a court precedent that the Visual Artists Rights Act does not apply to unfinished work. If so, this is not a happy development. Artists have few enough protections under U.S. law. If the Buchel-Mass MoCA spat narrows the scope of VARA, then one of the most important legal safeguards they do enjoy will end up as collateral damage in this fight.
Does Jenny Holzer still do those "Truisms"? Let me suggest one for her Mass MoCA installation. "Even Well Meaning Institutions Can Sometimes Screw Up Big Time."
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Buchel's countersuit sought an injunction and financial damages against the museum, and VARA does not seem to provide for that level of retaliation. Neither does it addresss situations like this one, in which the museum does the vast majority of real labor on the art under relatively scant direction from the artist, who then won't direct the work to completion. That may indicate shortcomings in VARA, but not Posnor's decision on it, which follows the law admirably.
As for whether this incident harms the museum's reputation, Zaretsky is doing his best to make sure that it does, with statements like "MASS MoCA has done serious damage to the cause of artists' rights generally" and "MASS MoCA has in effect ... guaranteed that all artists are now subject to have their artistic ideas exhibited and shown to the public in any state of completion and at any time." I tend to think instead that artists and museums involved in projects like Buchel's will draw up more specific contracts regarding the creation, installation, and display of work. Otherwise Posnor's decision will have little fallout for most artists. My own opinion of the museum remains unaltered.
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DOCTOR PETER TEIMAN FRANKLIN here,
There seems to be disparity to this retaliation.
DOCTOR PETER TEIMAN FRANKLIN
Sweden.
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