Pastiche: Woman's World
Lead Research Organisation:
Coventry University
Department Name: Ctr for Dance Research
Abstract
'Tick, tock; tick tock; tick tock': that could be the sound of Christian Marclay's work, The Clock, which was released in 2010 and most recently shown at the Tate Modern in September 2018. Made up of hundreds of fragments of time, culled from in-copyright films, is has been described as ' a chronicle of cinema, a history of the modern world and a meditation on the mystery of time. It is above all a great work of art that touches the truth of being human.' The Guardian September 2018. It has been said that it is 'the most popular video art work ever, playing to huge crowds (with long queues) across the world. It has also been critically acclaimed, winning the Golden Lion Award at the 2011 Venice Biennale.
The Clock is made up of hundred of parts of existing films that have been taken and reworked without asking the owners of the copyright in the original films, nor paying them a royalty. Copyright law would normally prevent the taking and re-use of existing works protected by copyright without seeking permission. That was not done in this case, so what aspect of copyright law might allow Marclay to take and rework parts of the original films in this way?
The purpose of this network will bring together individuals with different disciplinary expertise - experts from artistic practice, law, academia, film-making and distribution and rights clearance - to ask whether copyright law allows re-use of existing works for the purposes of pastiche.Using Co-I Graham Rawle's highly original Woman's World (pastiche) film as its focus, the findings of which will be broadly applicable to others working in pastiche, network members will discuss,
- What is pastiche?
- How is pastiche understood in artistic practice?
- What are the parameters of pastiche in copyright law and what distinguishes it from sampling or 'cut and paste'?
The intention is inform each stakeholder in the making and distribution chain of pastiche works of the copyright environment in which they work, and provide the tools to help assess whether their activities (should be) (are) lawful. As such, these questions are underpinned by deeper enquiries around whether copyright law should follow practice, or whether practice should be shaped by the law, and how the law should balance competing demands of the owner of copyright and the user of a work.
The outcomes of this work will be:
An authoritative opinion laying out network members' consensus on these questions which can be used to inform copyright law, pastiche practice and dissemination of pastiche works; a co-authored peer-reviewed paper on pastiche and copyright; an article in The Conversation; a paper on the outcomes of the qualitative research into attitudes of art teachers to pastiche; a web presence containing a recorded interview with Graham Rawle and three talking heads explaining in clear and accessible terms the purpose of the network and its meetings and a presentation on the findings of the network at a public event such as a science festival or hackathon aimed at young people who re-use existing works.
The Clock is made up of hundred of parts of existing films that have been taken and reworked without asking the owners of the copyright in the original films, nor paying them a royalty. Copyright law would normally prevent the taking and re-use of existing works protected by copyright without seeking permission. That was not done in this case, so what aspect of copyright law might allow Marclay to take and rework parts of the original films in this way?
The purpose of this network will bring together individuals with different disciplinary expertise - experts from artistic practice, law, academia, film-making and distribution and rights clearance - to ask whether copyright law allows re-use of existing works for the purposes of pastiche.Using Co-I Graham Rawle's highly original Woman's World (pastiche) film as its focus, the findings of which will be broadly applicable to others working in pastiche, network members will discuss,
- What is pastiche?
- How is pastiche understood in artistic practice?
- What are the parameters of pastiche in copyright law and what distinguishes it from sampling or 'cut and paste'?
The intention is inform each stakeholder in the making and distribution chain of pastiche works of the copyright environment in which they work, and provide the tools to help assess whether their activities (should be) (are) lawful. As such, these questions are underpinned by deeper enquiries around whether copyright law should follow practice, or whether practice should be shaped by the law, and how the law should balance competing demands of the owner of copyright and the user of a work.
The outcomes of this work will be:
An authoritative opinion laying out network members' consensus on these questions which can be used to inform copyright law, pastiche practice and dissemination of pastiche works; a co-authored peer-reviewed paper on pastiche and copyright; an article in The Conversation; a paper on the outcomes of the qualitative research into attitudes of art teachers to pastiche; a web presence containing a recorded interview with Graham Rawle and three talking heads explaining in clear and accessible terms the purpose of the network and its meetings and a presentation on the findings of the network at a public event such as a science festival or hackathon aimed at young people who re-use existing works.
Planned Impact
The key audiences for this network are pastiche artists and other people who are involved with each stage of the distribution and dissemination of pastiche works including film distributors, galleries and museums and similar organisations. We will also reach out to people involved with giving advice on rights related to copyright to those who make and distribute the works including teachers of art students experimenting with pastiche. We also aim to reach policy-makers and regulators involved with shaping the law through legislation, interpretation and decision making. We will reach younger members of the general public in particular those interested in distinguishing between 'cut, paste and sampling' which may infringe copyright law, and pastiche that may not.
We will use a range of channels including an opinion laying out network members' interdisciplinary consensus on the questions: What is pastiche? How is pastiche understood in artistic practice? What are the parameters of pastiche in copyright law? This will be disseminated via the social media presence, and the network members' own professional networks. The social media strategy will include a recorded interview with Graham Rawle discussing Woman's World and disseminated open access on social media and three 'talking heads' by different members of the network explaining the purpose of the network and its outcomes. The PI and CoI will participate in an event aimed at young people using and re-using creative works for artistic purposes at which they will discuss the work of the network and its findings. The event could be a science festival; design hackathon or similar. Other outcomes aimed at securing broad audience penetration will include an article in The Conversation, and a paper on the outcomes of the qualitative research into attitudes of art teachers to pastiche.
Many members of the network are leading members of their respective professions and as such, important to reaching these audiences will be the professional contacts that these individuals have developed. These include the artistic sector through Osbert Parker, a film director and teacher with links in the film production, distribution and educational sectors and Virgil Widrich, a practising pastiche artists with extensive networks in the art sector. From the distribution and rights sectors we have David Parfit, an independent film maker with knowledge of film dissemination channels; Hamish Crooks, Global Licensing Director, Magnum Photos and Elisa Mazza, photographer's agent and former picture researcher, Magnum Photos and Reuters News Agency; from the judiciary, Sir Richard Arnold, Court of Appeal Judge and expert in intellectual property; and from the BFI, Richard Paterson, who is the former Head of Research & Scholarship at the BFI. Other network members who are from academia also have extensive links with groups and individuals extending well beyond the academy to policy, civil society and the general public. These include Richard Dyer, a (recently retired) Professor of Film Studies at Kings College London, and author of Pastiche (Routledge 2007); Ronan Deazley, Professor of Law at Queen's University Belfast and an expert in (among other things) parody; Claudy Op den Kamp, early career researcher with expertise in found footage filmmaking and copyright; and Ogulcan Ekiz, from the Art/Law Network with a particular interest in pastiche;
During the currency of the funding, we do not anticipate that the impact will be extensive. Rather, impact will emerge as the project's findings roll out into, and become embedded within, the respective stakeholder communities. The PI and CoI will continue to monitor and measure the impact of the work after the project has ended through such activities as keeping a watching brief on court cases and policy makers deliberations and through evaluation of the social media strategy.
We will use a range of channels including an opinion laying out network members' interdisciplinary consensus on the questions: What is pastiche? How is pastiche understood in artistic practice? What are the parameters of pastiche in copyright law? This will be disseminated via the social media presence, and the network members' own professional networks. The social media strategy will include a recorded interview with Graham Rawle discussing Woman's World and disseminated open access on social media and three 'talking heads' by different members of the network explaining the purpose of the network and its outcomes. The PI and CoI will participate in an event aimed at young people using and re-using creative works for artistic purposes at which they will discuss the work of the network and its findings. The event could be a science festival; design hackathon or similar. Other outcomes aimed at securing broad audience penetration will include an article in The Conversation, and a paper on the outcomes of the qualitative research into attitudes of art teachers to pastiche.
Many members of the network are leading members of their respective professions and as such, important to reaching these audiences will be the professional contacts that these individuals have developed. These include the artistic sector through Osbert Parker, a film director and teacher with links in the film production, distribution and educational sectors and Virgil Widrich, a practising pastiche artists with extensive networks in the art sector. From the distribution and rights sectors we have David Parfit, an independent film maker with knowledge of film dissemination channels; Hamish Crooks, Global Licensing Director, Magnum Photos and Elisa Mazza, photographer's agent and former picture researcher, Magnum Photos and Reuters News Agency; from the judiciary, Sir Richard Arnold, Court of Appeal Judge and expert in intellectual property; and from the BFI, Richard Paterson, who is the former Head of Research & Scholarship at the BFI. Other network members who are from academia also have extensive links with groups and individuals extending well beyond the academy to policy, civil society and the general public. These include Richard Dyer, a (recently retired) Professor of Film Studies at Kings College London, and author of Pastiche (Routledge 2007); Ronan Deazley, Professor of Law at Queen's University Belfast and an expert in (among other things) parody; Claudy Op den Kamp, early career researcher with expertise in found footage filmmaking and copyright; and Ogulcan Ekiz, from the Art/Law Network with a particular interest in pastiche;
During the currency of the funding, we do not anticipate that the impact will be extensive. Rather, impact will emerge as the project's findings roll out into, and become embedded within, the respective stakeholder communities. The PI and CoI will continue to monitor and measure the impact of the work after the project has ended through such activities as keeping a watching brief on court cases and policy makers deliberations and through evaluation of the social media strategy.