The Right to Create <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Presented in the exhibition The Radical Imaginary: The Social Contract<\/em> at Centre VOX in Montreal,1<\/sup><\/a><\/span> 1 <\/a> - The Radical Imaginary: The Social Contract<\/em>, Montreal, VOX, from 13 September to 15 December 2018. <\/span> The Proposal<\/em> is complex. Situated at the confluence of several fields (the arts, politics, and law), each comprising numerous actors (Barrag\u00e1n, his legacy and family, Zanco, the Barragan Foundation, Vitra, Mexico, and Magid), the project underlines how the notions of community and posterity can be thwarted by excessive copyright enforcement. In this case, in a manoeuvre that invokes strategies of appropriation, Zanco has turned the principles of law intended to protect Barrag\u00e1n against him by impeding the dissemination of his work. Denounced on legal pretexts, appropriationist art is most commonly defined as the reproduction of a work with a view to renewing, transforming, or subverting the discourse that emanates from it. The peculiarity of the context behind The Proposal<\/em> is that the appropriation of the work is subjected to the very copyright that prohibits its representation and limits any discourse on it to that of its owner. Although Magid strives to disseminate Barrag\u00e1n\u2019s work and to circumvent any legal consequences for her actions, ironically, she only works with reproductions. The Montreal exhibition of the ring was in fact accompanied by several legal<\/em> copies of Barrag\u00e1n\u2019s work. In addition to the written proposal addressed to Zanco and the video documenting the creation of the ring, VOX displayed Magid\u2019s reproductions of Barrag\u00e1n\u2019s Butaca chair and of works from Josef Albers\u2019s Homage to the Square<\/em> series. While a video explained how the chair had been copied, the replicas illustrated various types of appropriation, from the creative, as undertaken by Magid, to the more restrictive, as imposed by the Barragan Foundation. The transgressive scope of appropriation thus exposes the indubitable power games at play around the question of creative freedom. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In reconsidering the legal discourse, Magid reveals the loopholes and weaknesses in the law governing the arts. Here, the legal field becomes a parameter of creation, acting not only as a boundary and constraint to the project but also as a material, in the sense that legal contradictions constitute the essence of the work. The Proposal<\/em> compels us to reflect on both the rule of law over creative power and the limits of artistic impunity. Nevertheless, since Magid has no legal training, her approach to law is speculative, and she does not bridle at highlighting the absurdity of enforcing copyright law to the letter. In an interview with Nikolaus Hirsch and Hesse McGraw, she underlines how what can or cannot be represented is subject to interpretation, depending on where the project is presented.2<\/sup><\/a><\/span> 2 <\/a> - Jill Magid, Nikolaus Hirsch and Hesse McGraw, \u201cLocating Legacy,\u201d in Critical Spatial Practice 8: The<\/em> Proposal: Jill Magid<\/em>, eds. Nikolaus Hirsch, Carin Kuoni et al. (Berlin: Sternberg Press, 2016), 4\u20135.<\/span> Hence, like an advocacy platform, each iteration of The Proposal<\/em> embodies both the legal framework and the diverse exigencies determined by the site of presentation: the presence of the ring and the glaring absence of Barrag\u00e1n\u2019s work. The literal enforcement of the representational limitations imposed by the Barragan Foundation and their interpretation by the country hosting The Proposal<\/em> allow Magid to reveal the weaknesses of the law. The exhibitions thus engage the legal structures of authority and control at the very heart of art creation and dissemination. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In the guise of a poetical contract, [the exhibitions] express contrite opposition to the legal authority governing the visibility of artists and their work.<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n Magid readily admits that she is interested in heritage issues\u2014more specifically, in how an artist\u2019s legacy is constructed, manipulated, and acquired.3<\/sup><\/a><\/span> 3 <\/a> - Ibid., 6\u20137.<\/span> From this perspective, The Proposal<\/em> highlights an underexposed aspect of the privatization of intellectual property. On the one hand, the control of Barrag\u00e1n\u2019s legacy by a corporation repudiates the sovereignty of the architect\u2019s wishes, while marking the transformation of his work from the status of patrimony to mere asset. In the essay \u201cJill Magid and Luis Barrag\u00e1n\u2019s Legacy,\u201d4<\/sup><\/a><\/span> 4 <\/a> - Daniel McClean, \u201cJill Magid and Luis Barrag\u00e1n\u2019s Legacy,\u201d in Critical Spatial Practice 8<\/em>, 53\u201385.<\/span> art and property law expert Daniel McClean examines how the extreme enforcement of a law intended to safeguard creation can restrict the use of a work to the point of stifling its potential dissemination. Copyright, which primarily protects the reproduction and distribution of a work, is effectively perverted by its transfer to a legal entity. In this sense, the Barragan Foundation protects not the artist but his rights. McClean explains how this legal and performative shift sanctions the appropriation of artists\u2019 authority to the point of denying them their legitimate right to be seen.5<\/sup><\/a><\/span> 5 <\/a> - Ibid., 64.<\/span> In short, in the absence of the artist, copyright functions as his or her creative identity, while copyright ownership preforms the creator\u2019s authority over his or her work. As these legal usurpations occur, the issue of legal protection gradually shifts from the conservation of the artist\u2019s patrimony to his personal objects. <\/p>\n\n\n\n At the core of these disembodied negotiations affecting Barrag\u00e1n\u2019s legacy, the ring offered by Magid becomes a symbol of pragmatic and critical agency, questioning the limits of the laws governing the architect\u2019s cultural patrimony. In fact, the exchange proposed by the artist lifts the veil on the tensions and contradictions at play among copyright, ownership, and enforcement. McClean mentions several,6<\/sup><\/a><\/span> 6 <\/a> - Ibid., 67\u201368.<\/span> notably the imbalance between private property rights and those in the public domain. The Foundation\u2019s management of reproduction rights protects its own financial interests at the expense of Barrag\u00e1n\u2019s legacy and the rights of the public. The resulting malaise is all the more profound because the ownership of these rights has no specific timespan. The Proposal<\/em> highlights the physical dispersal and gradual disappearance of Barrag\u00e1n\u2019s work from the cultural landscape by juxtaposing it with the accessibility of his personal archives still in Mexico. Hiding behind its legitimate rights, the Barragan Foundation has ignored its responsibility to promote the architect and his work. In fact, its approach to copyright ignores the inherent obligations of ownership. The accessibility of Barrag\u00e1n\u2019s archives guarantees the survival of his legacy; their selfish and abusive protection flirts with the boundaries of legality in that it directly impedes their visibility. What future can be expected for work that is inaccessible? <\/p>\n\n\n\n The history of modern art is written and refined through the exploration, questioning, and deconstruction of artworks. Appropriationist art plays a significant role in this dynamic by transgressing or dividing the discourse arising from a given proposal. Copyright infringement exposes and reinterprets the game of art, whereas the authoritarian enforcement of this law reveals itself, in this case, to be perilous for creation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n By borrowing the conceptual form of the contract, The Proposal<\/em> highlights the subjective judgments that orient the enforcement of objective law. As a negotiating tool, the ring thus embodies the compromises necessitated by copyright, particularly its often obscured cultural and ethical dimensions. The phantom presence of Barrag\u00e1n\u2019s work in each iteration of the project expresses the disavowal of public rights, whereas the corollary presence of the ring reiterates its affective motives. Magid envisages no conclusion to her project other than Zanco\u2019s acceptance; until then, The Proposal<\/em> embodies as much the flagrant disregard of patrimonial needs as the inherent suspension of the architect\u2019s work from the future cultural landscape. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n Translated from the French by Louise Ashcroft<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/esse.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/97-DO5-IMG2-IM_Sirois-Rouleau_JMagid_KHSG_sj_DSC9866_CMYK.jpeg\")
<\/strong>The Proposal<\/em>, details, 2016.
Photos : Stefan Jaeggi, courtesy of the artist, LABOR, Mexico city & Kunst Halle Sankt Gallen, Gallen<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n![\"ill](\"https:\/\/esse.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/97-DO5-IMG4-IM_Sirois-Rouleau_Magid_8-IMG_9385_CMYK-scaled.jpeg\")
<\/strong>The Proposal<\/em>, 2016, exhibition views, VOX centre de l\u2019image contemporaine, Montr\u00e9al, 2018.
Photos : Michel Brunelle<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n![\"Jill](\"https:\/\/esse.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/97-DO5-IMG3-IM_Sirois-Rouleau_Magid_9-IMG_9561_CMYK-C-FLAT-scaled.jpeg\")
<\/strong>The Proposal<\/em>, 2016, exhibition views, VOX centre de l\u2019image contemporaine, Montr\u00e9al, 2018.
Photos : Michel Brunelle<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\nHeritage Property <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"Jill](\"https:\/\/esse.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/97-DO5-IMG5-IM_Sirois-Rouleau_Jill-Magid-vid-still-1024x576_CMYK_extra.jpeg\")
<\/strong>The Exhumation<\/em>, video stills, 2016.
Photos : courtesy of the artist & LABOR, Mexico city<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/esse.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/97-DO5-IMG7-IM_Sirois-Rouleau_Magid_still06_CMYK.jpeg\")
The Exhumation<\/em>, video stills, 2016.
Photos : courtesy of the artist & LABOR, Mexico city<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n![\"Jill](\"https:\/\/esse.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/97-DO5-IMG6-IM_Sirois-Rouleau_Magid_Still1_CMYK.jpeg\")
The Exhumation, video stills, 2016.
Photos : courtesy of the artist & LABOR, Mexico city<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n