NEWSgrist - where spin is art

4 Possible Outcomes for Cariou v. Prince

 

Courtesy Flickr and the Artists; Illustration by BLOUIN ARTINFO - Image Via

Handicapping Cariou v. Prince: 4 Possible Outcomes for the Landmark Appropriation Art Lawsuit

by Rachel Corbett

Published: August 29, 2012 in ARTINFO.com

Rumors have been swirling that judges in the Patrick Cariou v. Richard Prince copyright lawsuit are nearing a decision. But while the outcome of the ongoing appeal has been eagerly anticipated on both sides, there’s a good chance the answer won’t be a simple “guilty” or “not guilty” for Prince. Instead, legal experts expect the judgment to fall somewhere in between, or perhaps even branch off into dozens of rulings — one for each painting in the contested series.

Last year, U.S. district court judge Deborah Batts sent shock waves through the art world when she ruled that Prince’s “Canal Zone” collages, which incorporate photographs from Cariou’s book, “Yes, Rasta,” infringed on the photographer’s copyright. Batts wrote that Prince didn’t meet the four standards of the fair use principle, and that ultimately the paintings — some of which are worth more than $10 million — could be destroyed.

Whatever the outcome of Prince’s appeal, that penalty doesn’t seem likely to stand. In May, one of the three appellate court judges, Barrington Parker, compared the injunction to “something that would appeal to, you know, Huns or the Taliban.” In fact, according to Columbia University law professor Philippa Loengard, it’s “very unlikely” that the judges will uphold the lower court’s decision in its entirety. “I would bet millions that’s not going to happen,” she told ARTINFO.

So, we asked Loengard, what are the other possible scenarios?

 

READ ON.....

Vajayjay and its Discontents

I'm sure everyone's been reading about the 'vagina flap' segment of Michigan's War on Women. This morning, my husband and I called the offices of GOP Majority Floor Leader Jim Stamas to let him know our concerns. We got a recording and left the following message:

 

Me: Sir, I'd like to know what you plan to do about the secret pee-pee place problem. I mean, really: WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT THE SECRET PEE-PEE PLACE??!

Me and Husband (loud, in unison): VAGINA!!!!!

 

Here's the toll-free number: (800) 626-8887

Vagina! have fun!

 

More info:

State Rep Lisa Brown (6/14):

GOP Tactics on House Floor Silence Women Legislators for Fighting Back

LANSING - Majority Floor Leader Jim Stamas (R-Midland) today banned two Democratic women legislators from speaking on the House Floor as the House of Representatives takes up its final legislation before the summer recess. State Representatives Lisa Brown (D-West Bloomfield) and Barb Byrum (D-Onondaga) were not told why the ban was put in place, but it is widely believed it stems from their opposition to radical anti-choice legislation that passed the House yesterday.

[....] 

Brendan Calling (6/15):

Michigan State Majority Leader Jim Stamas Hates the Word “Vagina” and the Women Who Have Them

After offending Majority Floor Leader Jim Stamas by using the offensively medically accurate word “vagina” in an impassioned floor speech opposing Michigan’s draconian new abortion law, State Representative Lisa Brown was banned indefinitely from speaking on the floor of the House of Representatives. Her colleague Barb Byrum, another passionate pro-choice elected official, was also served with an indefinite Shut The Fuck Up order from the the male-lead body. Apparently, during Michigan’s War on Women, ladies aren’t even allowed to serve in combat.

 

Angry Black lady Chronicles (6/14):

Michigan GOP Rep. Mike Callton (R-Vagina) Offended by the Word “Vagina” — VAGINA! VAGINA! VAGINA! VAGINA!

Apparently, not only is “uterus” an inappropriate and offensive term, but the word “vagina” is, too — at least in Michigan.

You know “vagina.”  You either have one, or you know someone who has one. You definitely came out of one, and chances are you’re trying to get back inside of one right now.

Well, here’s a tip for all you Michiganders: if you’re successful in getting inside one, KEEP IT TO YOURSELF.

Whatever you do, don’t yell “Vagina!” like you would “Eureka!” upon discovering gold at the end of a rainbow, or gaining entrance to a highly coveted and special place. “Vagina” is offensive and will get you a proper scolding and banned from speaking if you dare use the term during a House debate about legislating vaginas

 

“Canceled”: Art, Censorship and the Possibility in Failure at The Center for Book Arts

View of “Canceled: Alternative Manifestations and Productive Failures,” 2012

via Artforum Critics' Picks:

“Canceled: Alternative Manifestations and Productive Failures”

THE CENTER FOR BOOK ARTS
28 W 27th Street, 3rd Floor
April 18–June 30

06.04.12

Author: Zachary Sachs

04.18.12-06.30.12 The Center for Book Arts

Richard Prince v. Patrick Cariou, a fair-use case currently in appeals, threatens to set a dangerous precedent for the legality of appropriation. The initial ruling against Prince in 2011 included—in a surprisingly draconian injunction—an order that the works be destroyed or never displayed publicly. Cases like this can make an artwork seem considerably less interesting than the machinery of art and institutions that revolve around it. Greg Allen’s YES RASTA, 2011, a deadpan bound volume that reproduces depositions in the case, is one of the sixteen quasi-documentary, quasi-performative works on display in “Canceled.” The exhibition courses through several decades of art’s challenges to censorship, from the Los Angeles Police Department’s late-1950s persecution of Wallace Berman’s work and exhibition (“pornography”), to the imploding of Manifesta 6 in 2006 (Cypriot politics), to David Wojnarowicz’s recent expulsion from the Smithsonian’s “Hide/Seek” exhibition (an “assault on the sensibilities of Christians”).

Some remarkable artifacts come to the surface in this extensive trawling: a one-of-a-kind collaged mailer from the artist Cameron to Berman; Hans Haacke’s personal copy of his monograph Werkmonographie, which documents his inspired struggle with the Guggenheim in 1971. (The muscular neutrality of Haacke’s work made him seem a particularly stylish David wielding nothing more than Concept against Goliath’s vested interests. Here you can find the best joke, from the Guggenheim’s rejection letter to Haacke: “The trustees have established policies that exclude active engagement toward political and social ends.”)

At times the curatorial conceit can be a bit baggy: Seth Siegelaub’s books-as-exhibitions from the 1960s are a form of rejecting the gallery’s physical space, but they have little rapport with the conflict that animates most of the other selections. The curator, Lauren van Haaften-Schick, suggests in an accompanying essay that that the exclusion of contested artworks from exhibitions represents “ultimately productive failure,” which reminded me of the chestnut “fail better” from Samuel Beckett’s last novel, Worstward Ho (1983). Beckett was fairly black about about one’s prospects in the end (hence that title)—“Canceled” leaves one with a much more generous feeling about the possibility of failure.

Worldwide Parody & Satire Industries Collapse

Image Via

 

via BalloonJuice:

Worldwide Parody & Satire Industries Collapse
By Betty Cracker May 11th, 2012

NEW YORK – May 11, 2012 – Roiled by a lengthy Republican primary that featured sickly-wife dumper Newt Gingrich in the role of family values advocate, prissy uterus invader Rick Santorum as a small government champion and multimillionaire vulture capitalist Mitt Romney shedding Armani suits in favor of mom jeans and “work” shirts as he positioned himself as a regular guy (with a car elevator), the global parody and satire industries utterly collapsed Friday.

The market sector had teetered on the verge of collapse this week following an accusation from thrice four-times-married drug addict Rush Limbaugh that President Obama had attacked the institution of marriage by coming out in favor of same-sex unions. But some analysts had thought the sector was positioned for recovery.

Those hopes were dashed early Friday when parody and satire futures were bludgeoned by the publication of an opinion piece by 21-year-old single mom Bristol Palin. The daughter of failed vice-presidential candidate and serial quitter Sarah Palin criticized the president for allowing his daughters to influence marriage equality policy, decried the persecution of conservative Christians and urged the president to direct his children since “dads should lead their family.”

“Parody and satire were already on life support thanks to Rush,” said analyst Seymour Butts of the Under the Bleachers Report. “But when Bristol let loose, even hard-bitten industry veterans who had survived the Nixon and Reagan years threw in the towel.”

Most experts were unable to articulate a scenario under which parody and satire could recover. However, at least one long-term analyst envisioned a resurgence contingent upon a direct asteroid strike on the earth that wipes out all existing life, after which single-cell organisms might once more emerge and evolve to acquire language skills.

[X-posted at Rumproast]

SOPA's Evil Twin Sister – CISPA

Via Lumen Consulting:

In the hopes of creating awareness of what CISPA actually is and how it could effect the lives of every day people, we created this infographic. Feel free to share the graphic on your site (embed code below). You can find quotes from Fortune 500 CEO’s who are endorsing the bill here. You can also write a letter to your local representative to protest CISPA here.

Full Infographic and CISP definition is here.