[Reader-list] Free Art License

Thu Mar 29 02:47:57 IST 2001

Dear All

To all those who are new onto the list - welcome. As you all know 
this is a list to discuss issues raised by and articles in the Sarai 
reader, or anything pertaining to both that you all might think 
relevant.

Keeping in mind the section "Free as in Freedom: Software as culture" 
in the reader, i thought it might be interesting to offer up for 
reading something we have discovered on the web since the publishing 
of the book.  Below is a copy of the Free Art License (copyleft 
attitude) that makes for inspiring and challenging reading.

The url of the site is http://antomoro.free.fr/c/lalgb.html

cheers
Monica

Free Art license
[ Copyleft Attitude ]

version 1.1

Preamble:

With this Free Art License, you are authorised to copy, distribute 
and freely transform the work of art while respecting the rights of 
the originator.

Far from ignoring the author's rights, this license recognises them 
and protects them. It reformulates their principle while making it 
possible for the public to make creative use of the works of art. 
Whereas current literary and artistic property rights result in 
restriction of the public's access to works of art, the goal of the 
Free Art License is to encourage such access.

The intention is to make work accessible and to authorise the use of 
its resources by the greatest number of people: to use it in order to 
increase its use, to create new conditions for creation in order to 
multiply the possibilities of creation, while respecting the 
originators in according them recognition and defending their moral 
rights.

In fact, with the arrival of the digital age, the invention of the 
Internet and free software, a new approach to creation and production 
has made its appearance. It also encourages a continuation of the 
process of experimentation undertaken by many contemporary artists.

Knowledge and creativity are resources which, to be true to 
themselves, must remain free, i.e. remain a fundamental search which 
is not directly related to a concrete application. Creating means 
discovering the unknown, means inventing a reality without any heed 
to realism. Thus, the object(ive) of art is not equivalent to the 
finished and defined art object.
This is the basic aim of this Free Art License: to promote and 
protect artistic practice freed from the rules of the market economy.

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DEFINITIONS

The work of art:
A communal work which includes the initial oeuvre as well as all 
subsequent contributions (subsequent originals and copies). It is 
created at the initiative of the original artist who, by this 
license, defines the conditions according to which the contributions 
are made.

The original work of art:
This is the oeuvre created by the initiator of the communal work, of 
which copies will be modified by whosoever wishes.

Subsequent works:
These are the additions put forward by the artists who contribute to 
the formation of the work by taking advantage of the right to 
reproduction, distribution and modification that this license confers 
on them.

The Original (the work's source or resource):
A dated example of the work, of its definition, of its partition or 
of its program which the originator provides as the reference for all 
future updatings, interpretations, copies or reproductions.

Copy:
Any reproduction of an original as defined by this license.

Creator of the initial work of art:
This is the person who created the work which is at the heart of the 
ramifications of this modified work of art. By this license, the 
author determines the conditions under which these modifications are 
made.

Contributor:
Any person who contributes to the creation of the work of art. He is 
the creator of an original art object resulting from the modification 
of a copy of the initial oeuvre or the modification of a copy of a 
subsequent work of art.

1. AIMS

The aim of this license is to define the conditions according to 
which you can use this work freely.

2. EXTENT OF THE USAGE

This work of art is subject to copyright, and the author, by this 
license, specifies the extent to which you can copy, distribute and 
modify it.

2.1 FREEDOM TO COPY (OR OF REPRODUCTION)

You have the right to copy this work of art for your personal use, 
for your friends or for any other person, by employing whatever 
technique you choose.

2.2 FREEDOM TO DISTRIBUTE, TO INTERPRET (OR OF REPRESENTATION)

You can freely distribute the copies of these works, modified or not, 
whatever their medium, wherever you wish, for a fee or for free, if 
you observe all the following conditions:
- attach this license, in its entirety, to the copies or indicate 
precisely where the license can be found,
- specify to the recipient the name of the author of the originals,
- specify to the recipient where he will be able to access the 
originals (initial and subsequent). The author of the original may, 
if he wishes, give you the right to broadcast/distribute the original 
under the same conditions as the copies.

2.3 FREEDOM TO MODIFY

You have the right to modify the copies of the originals (initial and 
subsequent), partially or otherwise, respecting the conditions set 
out in article 2.2 , in the event of distribution (or representation) 
of the modified copy. The author of the original may, if he wishes, 
give you the right to modify the original under the same conditions 
as the copies.

3. INCORPORATION OF ARTWORK

All the elements of this work of art must remain free, which is why 
you are not allowed to integrate the originals into another work 
which would not be subject to this license.

4. YOUR AUTHOR'S RIGHTS

The object of this license is not to deny your author's rights on 
your contribution. By choosing to contribute to the evolution of this 
work of art, you only agree to give to others the same rights with 
regard to your contribution as those which were granted to you by 
this license.

5. DURATION OF THE LICENCE

This license takes effect as of your acceptance of its provisions. 
The fact of copying, distributing, or of modifying the work 
constitutes a tacit agreement. This license will remain in force for 
as long as the copyright which is attached to the work of art. If you 
do not respect the terms of this license, you automatically lose the 
rights that it confers. If the legal status to which you are subject 
makes it impossible for you to respect the terms of this license, you 
may not make use of the rights which it confers.

6. VARIOUS VERSIONS OF THE LICENCE

This license may undergo periodic modifications to incorporate 
improvements by its authors (instigators of the "copyleft attitude" 
movement) by way of new, numbered versions.

You will have the choice of accepting the provisions contained in the 
version under which the copy was communicated to you, or 
alternatively, to use the provisions of one of the subsequent 
versions.

7. SUB-licensing

Sub-licenses are not authorized by the present license. Any person 
who wishes to make use of the rights that it confers will be directly 
bound to the author of the original work.

8. THE LAW APPLICABLE TO THIS CONTRACT

This license is subject to French law.

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DIRECTIONS FOR USE:

- How to use the Free Art license?

To benefit from the Free Art License, it is enough to specify the 
following on your work of art:

[- A few lines to indicate the name of the work and to give an idea 
of what it is.]
[- A few lines to describe, if necessary, the modified work of art 
and give the name of the author/artist.]
Copyright © [the date] [name of the creator] (if appropriate, specify 
the names of the previous creators)
Copyleft: this work of art is free, you can redistribute it and/or 
modify it according to terms of the Free Art license.
You will find a specimen of this license on the site Copyleft 
Attitude http://copyleft.tsx.org as well as on other sites.

- Why use the Free Art license?

1 / to give the greatest number of people access to your work.

2 / to allow it to be freely distributed.

3 / to allow it to evolve by authorising its transformation by others.

4 / to be able, yourself, to use the resources of a work when it is 
under Free Art license: to copy, distribute or transform it freely.

5 / This is not all: because the use of the Free Art License is also 
a good way to take liberties with the marketing system generated by 
the dominant economy. The Free Art License offers a useful legal 
protocol to prevent abusive appropriation. It will no longer be 
possible for someone to appropriate your work, short-circuiting the 
creative process to make personal profit from it. Helping yourself to 
a collective work in progress will be forbidden, as will monopolising 
the resources of an evolving creation for the benefit of a few.

The Free Art License advocates an economy appropriate for art, based 
on sharing, exchange and joyful giving. What counts in art is also 
and mostly what is not counted.

- When to use the Free Art License ?

It is not the goal of the Free Art License to eliminate copyright or 
author's rights. Quite the opposite, it is about reformulating the 
relevance of these rights while taking today's environment into 
account. It is about the right to freedom of movement, to free 
copying and to free transformation of works of art. The right to work 
in freedom for art and artists.

1 / Each time you want to use or put this right into practice, use 
the Free Art License.

2 / Each time you want to create works which can evolve and be freely 
copied, freely distributed and freely transformed: use the Free Art 
License.

3 / Each time you want to have the possibility of copying, 
distributing or transforming a work: check that it is under Free Art 
License. If it is not, you are liable to be breaking the law.

- To which types of art can the Free Art License be applied?

This license can be applied to digital as well as to non-digital art. 
It was born out of observation of the world of free software and the 
Internet, but its applicability is not limited to the digital media. 
You can put a painting, a novel, a sculpture, a drawing, a piece of 
music, a poem, an installation, a video, a film, a recipe, a CD-rom, 
a Web site, or a performance under the Free Art License, in short any 
creation which has some claim to be a work of art.

This license has a history: it was born at the meeting " Copyleft 
Attitude " http://copyleft.tsx.org which took place at "Accès Local" 
and "Public" in Paris at the beginning of the year 2000. For the 
first time, it brought computer specialists and freeware activists 
together with contemporary artists and members of the art world.
-- 
Monica Narula
Sarai:The New Media Initiative
29 Rajpur Road, Delhi 110 054
www.sarai.net