Writing to you from burnout, about my desire and inability to stop working
I was verging on unsurprised when I read, through Industria, that the average hourly rate paid to artists is £2.60. Out of a desire not to bum…
This Is Not by Me
Keith Haring’s last canvas painting continues to be the focus of intense social media controversy in these first months of 2024, triggered by an X tweeted image of the work’s purported completion using generative AI…
Freedom and Creativity
2024 started with publication of a seminal judicial decision confirming that UK copyright law’s originality test – for creating a copyright protected new artwork – requires the expression of personal creativity by the author; and that this…
The Gig Economy: Making It Work
This article is written following the analysis of four semi structured interviews with gig economy workers in the creative industries. Below is a word cloud of the most frequently used nouns from the interview…
Supporting Whitechapel Gallery’s open call for London Open Live
Building on our research, Artquest are supporting Whitechapel Gallery’s application and selection process for London Open Live. Whitechapel Gallery’s open call exhibition, The London Open, is back with an exclusive focus…
To Have and Not To Hold
In November 2023 art market media focused on an original street artwork attributed to Banksy, and particularly on doubts cast over the legality of the work’s fractionalisation scheme, its true authorship and provenance of…
Dealers/Agents/Advisors: Beware
During summer 2023, a saga began to unfold concerning the art business of a prominent contemporary art market professional, based in New York City. The story raises significant legal and ethical issues for the art ecosystem. Lisa Schiff…
Cash In Your Face
In August 2023, within hours of Donald Trump’s police booking photograph being published by the Fulton County Sheriff in Atlanta, Georgia, his campaign website was selling his mugshot branded mugs, T shirts, drink coolers, bumper stickers,…
Regenerative Artmaking in the Climate Crisis
Five years ago, as I turned 30, I began to understand the bouts of depression and anxiety that had ravaged my mental health for the preceding decade. It wasn’t only triggered by the unexpected…
Fair Appropriation Practices
Warholisation was explored in the previous column, in which reported on the US Supreme Court’s landmark ruling in May 2023 that Andy Warhol’s appropriation of a photographer’s copyright image in his artwork, used without prior permission, was…
Diversity is not Inclusion
Attempting to forge a career as an artist or as any kind of creative professional presents obstacles for anyone. But neurodivergent people including those on the autism spectrum face extra burdens beyond the delights of simply…
Warholisation
In May 2023, a landmark court decision was published addressing the lawfulness of artists appropriating into their works other artists’ pre existing images. The Supreme Court of the United States decided the case, which was brought by the Andy…
Jonathan Ruffer curatorial grants – Small grants
Open deadline
The Jonathan Ruffer curatorial grants support UK curators, museum professionals and researchers to undertake travel and other activities that will extend and develop their curatorial expertise, collections based knowledge and art historical interests.…
https://www.artfund.org/professional/get-funding/programmes/jonathan-ruffer-curatorial-grants
Structurally F-cked
A new code of practice for UK’s artists and the visual arts sector is currently being prepared, and will soon be published by, a n The Artists Information Company. This unique initiative is the next step in a…
I dream of Utopia
Hi, My name is Noemi Gunea, I’m a neurodiverse migrant artist tossing and turning through Hackney, trying to make the best out of life while building a career in the arts. I’m privileged in many ways. I have…
AI Authorship
Do Androids Dream of Electric Copyright? This allusion to the title of Philip K Dick’s 1968 dystopian novel, on which the 1982 film Blade Runner was based, is the playful title of a scholarly paper about authorship of…
Digital Rights Management
The French Ministry of Culture is currently embarking on research into ‘the permanence of artistic royalties through smart contracts and other means, and on how blockchains communicate with each other’. Launched in January 2023, this initiative focuses…
A rare beast – the native Londoner
What is at the core of keeping me here? Peer support is the heart of what I do. I am a native Londoner, with the word written through me like a stick of…