Christo: Another greedy corporate artist
This Christo/Central Park Conservancy/Bloomberg fiasco is taking on some amazing twists. Today, 2/17/05, a representative of Christo's German publisher informed street artists, photographers and art vendors around Central Park that they would be subject to arrest for selling any images of The Gates. I got the number of this person, Dr. Fils, and had a lengthy talk with him. The Gate's LockedChristo threatens artist arrests
by Robert Lederman
This Christo/Central Park Conservancy/Bloomberg fiasco is taking on some
amazing twists.
Today, 2/17/05, a representative of Christo's German publisher informed
street artists, photographers and art vendors around Central Park that they
would be subject to arrest for selling any images of The Gates. I got the
number of this person, Dr. Fils, and had a lengthy talk with him.
Christo's publisher claims a vast new degree of copyright and trademark
protection. They claim they will prosecute anyone who sells their own
original photos of The Gates; who makes and sells a drawing of The Gates or
who even uses the words, The Gates, without their permission. They claim to
have copyrighted the words, The Gates. They also claim to have an agreement
with the media that media sources may only use news photos of the gates for
the period the installation is up. That after that the media will only be
allowed to use "official" photos of The Gates.
They also claim that all of Central Park is now "private property." Talk
about privatization! Be sure to thank Christo, Bloomscrooge and the CPC.
Here's an open-ended suggestion to all artists, creative people, writers,
parodists and pranksters. It's time to expose The Gates and the entire cult
of Bloomberg/Central Park Conservancy/Christo for the empty bag of hype that
it is. Note: this is a suggestion for what you might choose to do, not legal
advice.
The Fair Use doctrine of First Amendment and copyright law is that you can
use an otherwise copyrighted or trademarked image in a parody and that doing
so is not an infringement of copyright. It's time for all who love free
speech to freely express their own satirical and critical views on The
Gates. An ideal way to do this would be to display and/or sell a drawing or
photograph of The Gates with an attached statement, joke, parody song or
other commentary. I plan to do so and hope others will as well.
There are literally hundreds of thousands of tourists in Central Park
specifically to see The Gates and many would be VERY interested in this
issue and your parody.
[Fair use websites
Go to google.com and type in fair use
There are thousands of sites explaining it in great detail]
Be sure if you do to have that tape recorder and/or video camera on when and
if you are approached. The very first thing they say will be the most
important.
Also note, I called the Central Park Precinct on this and they said if an
artist is selling their own art (rather than a copy of an official piece of
Christo merchandise) it was legal to do so. This is uncharted territory
however so if you proceed do so knowing exactly what you are getting into.
The material below is from the Central Park Conservancy website...
http://www.the-gates-at-central-park.com/index.php?cont=home
Help Celebrate The Gates with Specially Designed Souvenirs
12-19-04
To help celebrate The Gates project for Central Park, the Conservancy has
designed a special line of exhibit-related merchandise. In addition to the
already great selection of Central Park Conservancy products available at
the Dairy Visitor Center and Gift Shop (located mid-Park at 65th Street) and
online, there are now special items available featuring The Gates.
These include signed and unsigned posters, T-shirts, sweatshirts, postcards,
key chains, lanyards, magnets, thermo mugs, baseball hats, socks, signed and
unsigned books, collector watches, and a specially designed four-color
detailed map of The Gates. .
Throughout the run of the exhibit visit our temporary The Gates gift shops
daily from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm at:
Chess and Checkers House ( mid-Park at 64th Street.
Tel: 212-794-4064)
Dairy Visitor Center & Gift Shop ( mid-Park at 65th Street
Tel: 212-794-6564)
Belvedere Castle (mid-Park at 79th Street. Tel: 212-772-0210 )
North Meadow Recreation Center (mid-Park at 97th Street.
Tel: 212-348-4867)
Charles A. Dana Discovery Center (inside the Park at 110th Street between
Fifth and Lenox Avenues. Tel: 212-860-1370)
Kerbs Boathouse (at the Model Boat Pond, East 74th Street near Fifth Avenue)
Loeb Boathouse (74th Street off the East Drive)
To preview the merchandise, click here
The Gates merchandise is also available online at
www.the-gates-at-central-park.com
All proceeds derived from the sale of The Gates merchandise will benefit
Nurture New York's Nature Inc. and the Arts, Central Park and other New York
City Parks; all proceeds from the sale of Central Park Conservancy products
go to the continued preservation of the Park. So it's certainly worth a
trip to one of our gift shops this season.
