Reading Room #4
Collective reading and discussion of Permanent Performance, a text by Dieter Lesage
16.00 ─ 17.30
WTC 25th floor
We will read and discuss collectively a text by Dieter Lesage, 'Permanent Performance'(Performance Research Journal, Volume 17, 2012 - Issue 6: On Labour & Performance). PDF available upon request. Please send an email to
Caveat at SOTA
State Of The Arts (SOTA) invites Caveat to take part in its first annual camp on fair practice
14.00 ─ 17.00
Allée du Kaai, 1000, Brussels
Caveat will be present with :
- Reading Room #3, a collective reading of a fragment of Anna Tsing's book, The Mushroom at the End of the World
- Presentation by Vermeir & Heiremans, 'A Modest Proposal: activating public resources as a commons?'
- Presentation by Louis Volont, 'Creative Commons'
- Discussion
Reading Room #2
16.00 ─ 17.30
WTC 25th floor
We will read and discuss collectively a fragment from Stephen Wright's Toward a Lexicon of Usership, 'Usership', pp 68-70
Reading Room #1
12.00─13:00
WTC 25th floor
We will read and discuss collectively a text by artist franck leibovici, Forms of life
, Jun 2017
Caveat at LODGERS: Caveat and Philippe Thomas
A series of presentations and debates revolving around the work of Philippe Thomas with Agency, Patrick Bernier & Olive Martin, Antony Hudek, Judith Ickowicz, Sven Lütticken, Daniel McClean, and Julia Wielgus.
Thu 22
17.00─21.00
Fri 23
15.00─18.00
M HKA, Antwerp, 6th floor
Free entrance
In a two-day event on 22 and 23 June, caveat will focus on the work of French artist Philippe Thomas (1951-1995). In his work, a selection of which is on display thanks to the generous support of Jan Mot, authorship, and also co-authorship, was intensely questioned. In the case of Ready-mades belong to everyone® this was pursued to the point where it lead to “the ultimate erasure of [the artist’s] name”, inviting “collectors to take authorial responsibility for his works.” [1] Furthermore, a large number of Philippe Thomas’ work displaces the legal notion of authorship as a juridical fiction in order to make it an artistic fiction, therefore underscoring the fictional dimension of both.
caveat will go further into questions Thomas’ work raises, while at the same time opening them up to the current situation on authorship and production conditions of the artist. During these two days, artists, theorists, curators and experts from the fields of art history, law and economy are invited to address questions on authorship, contract and law in a discursive event that has the ambition to share knowledge and negotiate future realities.
Caveat at LODGERS: The artist's signature and resales rights
15.00─18.00
There is one thing that many artworks and many artists’ contracts have in common: they both bear the signature of the artist, which in both cases consolidates authorship over the work, and which possibly bestows it with economic value. But if authorship over a work does not change throughout time, this economic value certainly does, leaving room for speculation and other practices that might be opposed to the interest of the artist who remains the author. Hence, we will in this workshop also discuss an issue that has been at the core of debates concerning contracts in art since Seth Siegelaub’s time, namely resales rights – the possible right of an author to receive a percentage of the profits made on her or his work after it has been sold.
With Anne-Sophie Radermecker (ULB, Cultural Management, Brussels), Maria Elena Minuto (European Neo Avant-Garde Research Unit (ENAG), KU Leuven)
Caveat at LODGERS: Distributing art: the gallery contract
15.00─18.00
One of the most prevalent contracts in the art world is certainly the sales contract drafted by a certain artist’s (commercial or non-commercial) gallery. This is not to say, however, that many galleries do not operate in a more sub rosa manner, with a significant amount of negotiations happening and deals being made behind the screen, possibly without the full knowledge of the artist, too. Again, what are the hierarchies and possible power asymmetries here, and how can artists empower themselves in their working relation with gallerists? But also, what other forms of gallery contracts already exist, and which different types of contracts would benefit which different types of galleries?
With Harlan Levey (TBC), Vaast Colson (Pinky Bowtie, artist run gallery, Antwerp), Eric Jooris (legal advisor)
Caveat at LODGERS: Artists and Curators: authorship & contracts
15.00─18.00
After having looked into multiple authorship and collaboration, it is still worthwhile to look into the nature of the working relation between artists and curators in more detail, as these relations can take the guise of a life-long, close partnership, a one-off commission, or anything in between. But what contractual obligations does the artist have in these different modalities of working together vis-à-vis the curator, and vice versa? How can both artists and curators think about best defending their interests (artistic, financial, and otherwise) contractually? What are the different negotiating positions in the process of thinking about this, who has leverage where and who has more power over what?
With Antony Hudek (KASK, Ghent), Johan Pas (Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Antwerp), Josine de Roover (NICC, Brussels), Julie Van Elslande (legal advisor)
Caveat at LODGERS: Co-production, multiple authorship, collaboration
15.00─18.00
Many practices in contemporary art today are distinctly collaborative. Whether it concerns a work realized in close dialogue with a commissioning institution or...
Many practices in contemporary art today are distinctly collaborative. Whether it concerns a work realized in close dialogue with a commissioning institution or with, a community project where a larger group of people contribute significantly to the work, or an art piece in which the production is (partly) outsourced by the artist, or anything similar: in all of these cases, there takes place a sort of diffusion of authorship through the division of labour, destabilizing and problematizing the notion of authorship down to its very core. This has become quite common in artistic practice, but how is this reflected in law – for instance in intellectual property law? What legal tools exist for framing these practices in a suitable contract.
With Adinda Van Geystelen (Extra City, Antwerp), Ulrike Lindmayr (Escautville, Antwerp), Kerstin Winking (Vriza, Amsterdam), Sari Depreeuw (legal advisor)
, , May 2017
Caveat at LODGERS, opening weekend
caveat is hosted by LODGERS, a collaboration between AIR Antwerpen and M HKA. LODGERS functions as Caveat’s first platform for public programmes, workshops, a display of artworks, legal material, and film screenings: a framework for research and artistic production as well as a public stage to negotiate possible futures of the artist contract.
Fri 19
15.00─18.00
Steyn Bergs & Florence Cheval (Caveat curators): introduction on Caveat
Sari Depreeuw (Caveat legal advisor): keynote on Caveat’s legal paradigm
Sat 20
15.00─18.00
Scott Raby (Caveat artist in residence): presentation, ‘The Contract in Art as a Site of Production: From Radical Histories to Speculative Possibilities’
Sara Martinetti (art historian and curator): presentation, ‘The Artist’s Reserved Rights Transfer and Sale Agreement from the Perspective of Diplomatics’
Sun 21
15.00─18.00
Daily 11.00─18.00 (entrance free, closed on Monday, Thursday open until 21.00).
Carey Young (artist): presentation, ‘Subject to Contract: Law as an Artistic Medium’
Tue 30 Oct
Ben Kinmont, “Promises and Precarity: Steps in an Alternative Artistic Practice”
14:30─16:00
Book presentation, reading and discussion of a compiled reprint, created for this occasion, of Promised Relations: or, thoughts concerning a few artists’ contracts (1996), Materialization of Life into alternative economies (1996), and Project Series: Archive Contracts (2005) by Ben Kinmont. This reprint will be available for free during Bâtard Festival.
17:30
Artist talk, followed by a Q & A.
Wed 31 Oct
franck leibovici, “(some forms of life) – an ecology of artistic practices”
17:30
Book presentation and artist talk, followed by a Q & A.
Thu 1 Nov
Open Source Publishing workshop
11:00─17:30
Open Source Publishing has written a collaboration agreement to work with others. Within Caveat, OSP is rewriting this document and proposing a visual translation. During the Bâtard festival, OSP invites artists and designers to contribute a description and interpretation of their own contract or conditions as to develop a language of practices.
Eva Barto, “On Buttonwood Press and other deals”
17:30
Book presentation and artist talk, followed by a Q & A.
Sat 3 Nov
Sofia Caesar, “Zero Hour”
17:30
Performance and artist talk. Presentation by jurist Sarah de Groof followed by a Q & A. DJ set by Eric Schrijver at Decoratelier.