The Creative Act Revisited: New ways of working - New challenges

The Creative Act Revisited: New ways of working - New challenges * are creative practitioners 'above the law'? * can they do anything they like in the name of art? * how do you persuade legislators and bureaucrats to allow the extraordinary? * to what extent can an artist appropriate another person's image? * is it acceptable for an artist to rework social history? * how can you make a living out of non-conventional creative work? * can the conventional art market be changed/subverted? Professor Henry Lydiate has over 35 years experience of working with creative artists of all disciplines, helping them to address the business aspects of carrying out their work. He established the UK's only dedicated service to address the special legal needs of artists, Artlaw Services, and was instrumental in setting up the related operation in Australia, Arts Law Services. He lectures internationally and writes regularly about art and the law; his work can be viewed at www.artquest.org, where there is a free access archive of his regular articles for the UK publication, Art Monthly. As a result of his ongoing engagement with artists, Henry has become a passionate supporter of Marcel Duchamp's proposition that a work of art only achieves its final completion through the engagement of the viewer. His professorial platform lecture pays homage to Duchamp and reworks his original 1957 US lecture title, The Creative Act, in order to look at the working situation of creative practitioners today. Henry Lydiate observes that as art practice changes and diversifies, artists are engaging with an ever widening range of different media and working practices. This brings new challenges and requirements - for example, managing creative processes, organising working relationships, understanding ownership of rights, and even establishing what is and is not acceptable in terms of public display and censorship. Using examples drawn from his wide-ranging experience of helping creative practitioners, Henry Lydiate will explain why he believes that the working practice of a contemporary artist is now more diverse and challenging than in previous times and requires a broader skill base. Those attending the lecture will learn from an engaging range of case study examples and also have the opportunity to ask questions