Judge Rules MASS MoCA Can Exhibit Büchel's Art Without His Consent

sergio  ||   22 September 2007

On Friday, September 21, federal judge Michael A. Ponsor ruled that the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art has the right to display Christoph Büchel's unfinished art project without the artist’s consent.

This is a death-blow to contemporary artists, national and international alike. On its face, it gives a granting and/or commissioning institution the power to exhibit an artist’s art work without her/his permission unless there is a written agreement to the contrary. Theoretically, the judge’s decision eviscerates an artist’s power to dictate when the artist’s project is in a state where the artist feels comfortable and willing to put it out for public exposure. In effect, Judge Ponsor has now allowed museums and cultural institutions—and perhaps any institution—the ultimate say in what is and isn’t art. Tell that to Duchamp.

What MASS MoCA and its director, Joe Thompson, should realize, is that although they have been granted the legal right to show Büchel's artwork, this doesn't necessarily mean that they should. Even if they come to their senses and not continue to exhibit Büchel's work, the damage has been done. Unless appealed, the ruling now gives visual artists much less protection under the Visual Artists Rights Act (VARA), making this federal law much more useless than before.

On a side note, it is interesting to note the lack of support for Büchel from other artists. It is perhaps the nature of the current artworld beast, or the primary law of economics once again: supply vs. demand. When the supply of artists is at an all time high, artists are much less tempted to protest or organize for fear of being black-balled or denied a low-probability opportunity to exhibit at MASS MoCA. One can only wonder if the judge's decision would have differed had there been more of an outcry from individual artists and not just Robert Storr and Roberta Smith.

CLANCCO is currently covering this story and is in the process of obtaining court documents in order to allow us to analyze the judge’s reasoning.