Court tries to resolve big mess over big art project with big ruling
A federal appeals court today gave artist Christoph Buchel a partial victory over the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, ruling the museum violated his rights by continuing to work on a massive installation even after he told it to stop because he could no longer tolerate the changes it was making.
The United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, however, also found holes in the Swiss artist's overall case, rejecting arguments the museum ruined his reputation by displaying the unfinished, giant-sized project under a yellow tarp that visitors could easily peer under.
At issue was a mammoth project titled "Training Ground for Democracy;" the court ruled that the museum violated Buchel's rights under the Visual Artists Rights Act even though the work was not finished:
Although far from complete, the work by the end of 2006 included parts of the "Saddam Compound" and the cinema, and Büchel and his assistants had begun detailing several of the containers intended to house elements such as a jail, museum and voting booths. With this substantial work in place, the sculpture had an established presence in Building 5. Büchel thus had rights in the work that were protected under VARA, notwithstanding its unfinished state.
The ruling goes on for 60 pages. However, the judges carefully avoided one issue: Whether the installation got reviews with titles such as Crap under Wrap because the museum ruined the work or because the work simply sucked.
