Paris Embraces Modern Art – But Not in Court: Opinion on the Cour d’Appel de Paris Decision – Jeff Koons v Franck Davidovici

In February 2021 the Paris Court of Appeal (Cour d’appel de Paris) rendered a decision against the US artist Jeff Koons, holding that he had infringed copyright relating to an advertisement photography that was more than 30 years old. Jeff Koons is famous for his Neo-pop Appropriation art – kitsch for some, a provocative breach with the traditional notion of art for others. It was not the first time Koons has had to defend his work in court. The French decision is particularly interesting, however, as it shows a very narrow understanding of the copyright exceptions. It is an illustrative example of the issues resulting from CJEU’s approach in Pelham, Spiegel Online and Funke Medien, where the Court held that once the recognisability of original elements has been established, the only way out of the infringement leads through the formal exceptions and limitations of the InfoSoc Directive. Based on the decision, I will reflect on the openness of copyright for art-specific forms of referencing and in particular analyse the subject matter and scope of the parody exception and contrast it with less formal approaches to consider new creative elements. I will also analyse the question of applicable law in internet cases.

High Way Robbery

This chapter includes a 1990 review of High and Low: Modern Art, Popular Culture by graphic design journalist Michael Dooley. His critique of the exhibit as seen in Los Angeles: “The show failed, and not simply by the standards of right- and left-wing axe-grinders. More importantly, and sadder still, it failed on its own terms. The show’s attendees never arrived at an interchange; instead, they were stuck on a one-way drive up the high road.” This chapter discusses specific works of art, comics, and advertising and contains an overview of the surrounding art world politics. Images: 2 exhibit photos (MoMA), 3 ads referencing pop culture. This chapter also includes the essay “My Way along the High Way.” This is a 2017 essay by graphic design journalist Michael Dooley, written as an afterword to his 1990 article "High Way Robbery” about High and Low: Modern Art, Popular Culture and its legacy. This afterword discusses ongoing interaction between pop culture and fine art, specifically Jeff Koons, Ed Ruscha, R. Crumb, Harvey Kurtzman, Art Spiegelman, and the exhibition Masters of American Comics.

(Re)Presenting Racial Permeability, (Dis)Ability, and Racial (Dis)Affiliations

This chapter explores how “race” is both constructed and performed, the ways in which some of these performances have been naturalized, and the degree to which, as such, “race” can be reformulated from ethnic or cultural points of view. The purpose of doing so is to show that the degree of agency and autonomy that both “black” and “white” subjects can achieve in a racialized society is a function of the systems and structures that invigilate racial stratification. The chapter goes on to show that what constitutes networks of belonging through culture and kinship can be differentially engaged in ways that break away from the naturalization of race as a means of separation and agglomeration. In other words, new ways of assembling human beings can emerge that run counter to already racialized societal systems. Texts examined include works by Adrian Piper, Jeff Koons, Octavia Butler, and Pamela Gien.