Public lectures series 2016

Thursday 18 February, 18:00, EB 206

If copyright law is meant to protect works of art so that they can be communicated to the public without the risk of being appropriated, those artworks that are meant to be displayed in public spaces constitute a special form of art, named public art, that, even more than others, is inherently communicated through its being sited in spaces that are accessible to all. After providing a tentative categorization of public artworks and after reconstructing the current copyright law framework, it emerges that public art is a vague notion that does not have a univocal or universal definition within copyright law but it changes according to the national jurisdictions. Further analysis also points out that the specific features of public art alter the scope of copyright protection as well as the way into which copyright law usually strikes the balance between the public and private interests.

Maria Lillà Montagnani in Associate Professor in commercial law at Bocconi University, Milan, and Director of ASK (Art, Science and Knowledge) Research Centre.