Who stole New Paradise Eva?
ARTinvestment.RU   21 ноября 2008

The famous French photographer Bettina Rheims would have to pay 30 thousand euro artist Jacob Gautelyu. The court held that, by using its installation in his work, it violated its copyrights

world of art photography was struck by a bad news: the famous Bettina Rheims (Bettina Rheims), known for its photos of naked women, was found guilty of copyright infringement. Now it will have to pay the German artist Jakob kontseptualistu Gautelyu (Jakob Gautel) 30 thousand euros (38 thousand dollars). The process has already begun a long time ago, and in 2006, Reims has been found guilty, but she did not agree with this decision and appealed to the Court of Cassation. As we have seen, to prove one's case it did not.

Rheims blamed that for the creation of one of his works, she used a photo of Jacob Gautelya. Work Gautelya, first shown in public in 1990, is extraordinary. It shows the dirty door, on which is written in golden letters the word Paradis ( «Paradise»). The door leading into the toilet is in the bedroom for alcoholics psychiatric hospital Villa Evrar. Photo Gautelya - no photo, he came to the hospital and personally nalepil on the wall obsharpannuyu gold letters, and then captures the results of their labor. Villa Evrar is not an ordinary hospital. He is notorious for its famous the users, including Antonin Artaud (Antonin Artaud) and Camille Claudel (Camille Claudel). Of course, this «Fleur» could not go unnoticed by various staff from the world of art: Jakob Gautel far not the first artist who decided to post it to install. In his work can feel «Aura» space.

But this «aura» is not in the photo of Bettina Rheims, which was established in 2002. This work is part of a triptych «New Eve». It can be seen in women «gautelevskoy» doors, above which says Paradis. At first glance, the fact of plagiarism is obvious. But the artist's lawyers argued that Gautel, as a representative of conceptualism, must understand that the foundation of his work is not the form of (self-image of the door and the words Paradis on the wall), and the idea. That is, they believe, is important, not the door, but the context in which it appears. For photographs of Bettina Rheims it is impossible to determine where exactly is its heroine, so it is not very important for understanding the work Gautelya need to know what it was set up in a psychiatric hospital Villa Evrar. That is, two approaches are quite different artists, and to counsel Rheims, compare them and say that someone who stole something, does not. According to defenders of Rheims, the creation Gautelya does not go beyond the «intellectual démarche», one of the myriad of rethinking the topic «Gates of Paradise». But the court held that such considerations have a place only if it comes to conceptual works that exist only at the speculative level. We can give the example of some of Sola Levitte (Sol LeWitt), which exist only in the form of instructions, guided by a work of art can create anyone. But the concept is quite Gautelya specific material embodiment - in the form of photographs, and the idea of being imprinted on it, has the form. It is in this form, and the lawyers defending the artist. That is a precedent has been established. And now, if any artist or photographer uses a conceptual image of the installation made by another author, or outplay the form, which embodies the idea of this installation, it is considered a violation of copyright.

In 2006, when the rightness Gautelya has been recognized for the first time, a lecturer in the University Jean Moulin Lyon Treppo Edouard (Edouard Treppoz) stated that the concept of art, like any other, there should be such a thing as « copyright ». But he added that in this lies the danger: the Procrustean bed of jurisprudence could seriously limit the freedom of creativity. How can we talk about freedom, when the artist must constantly think about that, if he does not copy any work of another? .. Today «unwittingly copy» is very easy: a work of art can be called anything, if you place it in the «correct» the context.

Material prepared Yulia Maksimova

Sources: 20minutes.fr , larevue.hammonds.fr , pascalrobin.com , artinvestment.ru