Saturday, February 14, 2015

Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for the Visual Arts

The College Art Association recently released a Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for the Visual Arts, which you can read here. It's already gotten some attention & I imagine it will get a lot more. On the whole, I'm a fan of the best practices codes promoted by Peter Jaszi & Patricia Aufderheide. They tend to provide several helpful functions, including identifying social norms, providing fair use heuristics for participants in a field of creative work, and staking out prima facie fair uses in a particular field. Unfortunately, I'm not sure this Code will be as useful as some of the others. Saying that "artists should avoid uses of existing copyrighted material that do not generate new artistic meaning" and "the use of preexisting work ... should be justified by the artistic objective" isn't terribly helpful, or really anything more than a restatement of Section 107 of the Copyright Act.

However, I'm inclined to think that Jaszi & Aufderheide aren't to blame. The strength & weakness of codes of fair use (and other similar codes) is that they are intended to synthesize existing social norms. That is a very effective strategy when (reasonably?) well-defined social norms exist. But my reading of this new Code is that it's inability to provide clear guidance reflects a fundamental lack of agreement on social norms relating to copying and other uses of existing material, among visual artists. A cynic might suggest that this lack of agreement further reflects a certain tendency toward hypocrisy among visual artists, who can readily rationalize their own copying, but object to copying by others. More specifically, there are many nesting insider & outsider norms, so "ethical fair use" in the visual arts tends to reflect relational norms, more than objective ones. 

Sunday, January 11, 2009

WTC Panorama


WTC Panorama (2009) by Brian L. Frye; video, color, silent, 1 minute.
I bought this scrolling panorama for $2 on the day after Xmas at the mall outside of Troy, New York. Monster sale & I'd been coveting it for awhile. A grimly lovely slice of anachronism.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Cooper's Hawk


Cooper's Hawk (2008) by Brian L. Frye; video, color, silent, 1 minute.
Lumiere video of a Cooper's Hawk on a falconer's perch in Hershey, Pennsylvania.

Reciprocal Motion


Reciprocal Motion (2008) by Brian L. Frye; video, color, silent, 1 minute.
Lumiere video of hot dogs on the rollers at the gas station.

Monday, October 13, 2008

Seamless Web


Seamless Web (2008) by Brian L. Frye; video, color, silent, 1 minute.
Lumiere video from a window in my mother's house. I went home to Santa Rosa for her last few days. This spider stood guard & held on, just like she did.

Mermaid


Mermaid (2008) by Brian L. Frye; video, color, silent, 1 minute.
Lumiere video of the mermaid fountain in the rinky-dink shopping center near my mother's house in Santa Rosa. The statue has gotten just a bit mangier every year.

Omu's Nuts


Omu's Nuts (2008) by Brian L. Frye; video, color, silent, 1 minute.
Lumiere video of my brother Michael making candied almonds the way my grandmother did. It's a secret, so don't ask.

Camera Obscura


Camera Obscura (2008) by Brian L. Frye; video, color, silent 1 minute.
Lumiere video of the Camera Obscura behind the Cliff House, arguably the most perfect attraction to ever exist. Simple, sublime, ageless.

Sunday, July 27, 2008

Summer Storm


Summer Storm (2008) by Brian L. Frye; video, color, silent, 1 minute.
Lumiere video of a summer thunderstorm in Troy, New York.

Saturday, July 26, 2008

Kaaterskill


Kaaterskill (2008) by Brian L. Frye; video, color, silent, 1 minute.
Lumiere video of Kaaterskill falls, halfway up.

10 Center


10 Center (2008) by Brian L. Frye; video, color, silent, 1 minute.
Lumiere video of the bar in a Newburyport, Massachusetts restaurant.

Friday, July 18, 2008

Pianoman


Pianoman (2008) by Brian L. Frye; video, color, silent, 1 minute.
Lumiere video of piano busker on Father Demo Square in Greenwich Village.

Tuesday, July 08, 2008

Arboretum


Arboretum (2008) by Brian L. Frye & Andrea Scott; video, color, silent, 2 minutes.
During the Flaherty Film Seminar at Colgate University, I lent Andie Scott my Vidster. She returned it well-used. These are selections from what she recorded.

Friday, July 04, 2008

Mixologist


Mixologist (2008) by Brian L. Frye; video, color, silent, 1 minute.
Lumiere video of Pablo de Ocampo mixing cocktails at the Flaherty Film Seminar at Colgate University.

Board Meeting


Board Meeting (2008) by Brian L. Frye; video, color, silent, 1 minute.
Lumiere video of Flaherty Film Seminar board meeting at Colgate University.

Saturday, June 21, 2008

Freakshow


Freakshow (2008) by Brian L. Frye; video, color, silent, 20 seconds.
Lumiere video of the Mechanical Museum's Monster Machine in action.

Sutro


Sutro (2008) by Brian L. Frye; video, color, silent, 1 minute.
Lumiere video of the San Francisco shore at the ruins of the Sutro Baths.

Lemon Drop


Lemon Drop (2008) by Brian L. Frye; video, color, silent, 1 minute.
Lumiere video of life & its discontents. A drink & a kiss makes it all worthwhile.

Friday, June 20, 2008

Cliff House


Cliff House (2008) by Brian L. Frye; video, color, silent, 1 minute.
Lumiere video of Sharon on her cell, contemplating the ineffable.

Sunday, June 08, 2008

Electric Boogie


Electric Boogie (2008) by Brian L. Frye; video, color, silent, 30 seconds.
Lumiere video of flapper dancing on Governor's Island.