Autonomous robots, large-scale image processing, interactive audiovisual effects powered by AI: as these technologies move out of the lab and into the gallery, there is a quiet culture clash taking place. While some artists working with emerging technologies build from scratch or make use of open-source material, others find themselves needing access to commercial hardware and software.
Whereas the art world famously operates on handshakes, boilerplate agreements in the technology sector are formal, complex, and tailored to business use cases. They are often an extremely poor fit for the needs of artists. Numerous key provisions, from the license term to the provision of ongoing maintenance, need to be renegotiated to allow for artworks to be exhibited, sold, collected, and preserved. Such negotiations cannot be successful unless the parties learn to speak a common language. Licenses stand in the way of artmaking.
Using a series of case studies, this presentation articulates the current and future impacts of the integration of licensed software into fine art. Gover consider ways in which license agreements can address the needs of both technology companies and artists, even when the aims and values of business and leading-edge art may seem irreconcilable.
---
Karen Gover is currently a JD candidate at Harvard Law School where her focus is intellectual property law. She is a research assistant at the Harvard Cyberlaw Clinic. Before coming to law school Karen taught philosophy at Bennington College. She also held visiting positions at the School of Visual Arts and at Columbia University. She holds a PhD in philosophy from Pennsylvania State University. She has published academic articles in Dance Research Journal, the British Journal of Aesthetics, and the Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, among others. Her book, Art and Authority: Moral Rights and Meaning in Contemporary Visual Art, was published by Oxford University Press in 2018.
近年，各類科技走出實驗室進入畫廊與展場空間，然而，另一場跨領域的文化衝突正悄悄展開，無論是大規模圖像處理、ＡＩ驅動的視聽作品、以及各類自主機器人⋯各類藝術家運用新興技術接續創作。無論是從頭的開發、利用開源素材，或使用商業硬體和軟體，都將涉及法律層面的應用。
然而，科技圈所仰賴協議樣板，正式、複雜，又充滿了商業考量。在充滿個人工作、講求人情交際、又經常非營利的藝術創意工作者們，往往無法如科技單位或商業公司一樣談判，而這些協議往往也無法滿足藝術需求中的使用情境。許多的關鍵條款，比如授權期限或者維護合約，都需要被重新協商，才能讓藝術品更好地展示、販售、收藏，以及保存。要確保這些談判的順利進展，藝術家和工程師們必須先學會彼此的語言。而「授權協議」正是仰賴科技的藝術創作中，需要被重新顯示的項目。
本次的演講將藉由一系列的研究案例，解釋當授權軟體被整合進藝術作品之時，產業正在以及即將面臨的影響。即便商業追求與前沿藝術的目標南轅北轍，戈佛於這次「專家會診」中，將讓藝術家、科技工作者、協作者們，了解法律在科技與藝術之間的關係、深入探討「授權同意合約」，避免在科技藝術創作中所可能遇到的法律糾紛、也讓藝術家、科技協作者，能在未來更近一步安心的爭取創作上的權益與自由。
---
凱倫・戈佛（Karen Gover）是哈佛法學院的法學博士候選人，專注於知識產權法，目前擔任哈佛網路法律診所的研究助理。在進入法學院之前，她曾在本寧頓私立文理學院教授哲學，也多次擔任哥倫比亞大學視覺藝術學院的訪問教職。她擁有賓州州立大學哲學院的博士學位，亦曾在《舞蹈研究雜誌》、《英國美學雜誌》和《美學與藝術評論雜誌》等期刊上發表學術文章。她的著作《藝術與權威：當代視覺藝術中的道德權利與意義》（暫譯）於 2018 年由牛津大學出版社出版。
