Calling London! Free Ann Lee from The Tate!

POST BY PADDY JOHNSON

If the point of Pierre Huyghe and Philippe Parreno’s collaborative project “No Ghost, Just a Shell” is to propose scenarios that liberate the manga character Ann Lee from ownership, why is the Tate holding her image reproduction rights hostage? Conceived in 1999 when the two bought the copyright to the girl’s image — a move that continues the cartoon’s themes of hijacked identity and the infiltration of human minds — the artists invited friends to create work that explored her new found rights. But unlike regular people, who get to decide who takes a picture of them and why, The Tate makes that decision for the girl, with it’s no photography policy. As such, the girl’s identity remains just as much a commodity as it had before. Ann Lee does not profit or control the use of her image, though everyone else does — the artists, The Tate and collectors Rosa and Carlos de la Cruz (the current owners of all but one image on view).

I suppose Ann Lee doesn’t get a say on how her image is used either if I place a Creative Commons share license on my clandestinely taken photographs, but I couldn’t help but think she’d at least gain a little life and energy should she move across the internet. Not that this idea made any difference to the Tate. “No photographs!” a guard yelled at me, as I snapped a photograph of Lee’s projected face. “But I’m freeing Ann Lee from her existence as a commodity!” I protested. He didn’t hear me, but maybe the Internet will. Infuse Ann Lee with life by passing her image along and freeing her from The Tate!

pedrovel
she was set free back in ’03 and Rosa e La Cruz complained a lot… nnhttp://pedrovelezartist.blogspot.com/2008/01/didactic-godfuck-at-wetern-exhibitions.html
pedrovel
she was set free back in ’03 and Rosa e La Cruz complained a lot… \n\nhttp://pedrovelezartist.blogspot.com/2008/01/didactic-godfuck-at-wetern-exhibitions.html
http://hayleysilverman.com hayley silverman
“I have become animated…not by a story with a plot, no…See, I’m not here for your amusement…You are here for mine!” — I thought Pierre and Phillipe legally returned AnnLee’s copyright to herself??
http://hayleysilverman.com hayley silverman
“I have become animated…not by a story with a plot, no…See, I’m not here for your amusement…You are here for mine!” — I thought Pierre and Phillipe legally returned AnnLee’s copyright to herself??
johnny bukcets
i’m so tired of this piece but good call anyway
johnny bukcets
i’m so tired of this piece but good call anyway
http://tommoody.us tom moody
From an ’04 rant about the Annlee project (http://www.digitalmediatree.com/tommoody/?25277):
“According to [Philip] Nobel, Huyghe ‘slightly redrew’ the character [purchased from the Japanese anime image clearinghouse Kworks], which is true if ‘slightly redrawing’ means removing her pupils, tilting her eyes the opposite way, giving her a perm, stripping off her clothes, and turning her into a robot ET. Huyghe then asked 14 artists to interpret this ‘open source Annlee’ for a group show that traveled to major museums. Once he created the ‘freeware’ prototype, the artists were stuck drawing her that way, that is, like his digital puppet and not the Kworks original (Nobel refers to the show’s ‘many identical video avatars’). So what’s the purpose of buying the brand, bringing the ‘empty sign’ to life through multiple interpretations, and then transferring the copyright back to the character, as Huyghe supposedly did, if you’re going to make the brand unrecognizable before the interpretation process even starts? The work has a superficial frisson of commodity art but fails as a meme-propagating business model, parodistic or otherwise.”
http://tommoody.us tom moody
From an ’04 rant about the Annlee project (http://www.digitalmediatree.com/tommoody/?25277):
“According to [Philip] Nobel, Huyghe ‘slightly redrew’ the character [purchased from the Japanese anime image clearinghouse Kworks], which is true if ‘slightly redrawing’ means removing her pupils, tilting her eyes the opposite way, giving her a perm, stripping off her clothes, and turning her into a robot ET. Huyghe then asked 14 artists to interpret this ‘open source Annlee’ for a group show that traveled to major museums. Once he created the ‘freeware’ prototype, the artists were stuck drawing her that way, that is, like his digital puppet and not the Kworks original (Nobel refers to the show’s ‘many identical video avatars’). So what’s the purpose of buying the brand, bringing the ‘empty sign’ to life through multiple interpretations, and then transferring the copyright back to the character, as Huyghe supposedly did, if you’re going to make the brand unrecognizable before the interpretation process even starts? The work has a superficial frisson of commodity art but fails as a meme-propagating business model, parodistic or otherwise.”
http://tommoody.us tom moody
Judging from your photos, it looks like some artists used the sad big eyed Annlee and others used the 3D extraterrestrial Annlee. How is that a “brand”? One wonders how the museum’s (precious, concept-defying) copyright is supposed to cover all the interpretations of Annlee that don’t even look alike. What we need is a super-wealthy picture-taker willing to take this to court and demolish the museum’s claims.
http://tommoody.us tom moody
Judging from your photos, it looks like some artists used the sad big eyed Annlee and others used the 3D extraterrestrial Annlee. How is that a “brand”? One wonders how the museum’s (precious, concept-defying) copyright is supposed to cover all the interpretations of Annlee that don’t even look alike. What we need is a super-wealthy picture-taker willing to take this to court and demolish the museum’s claims.
http://www.artfagcity.com Art Fag City
Yeah, I noticed Hayley’s criticism while I was there but hadn’t realized she’d been so completely redrawn. I’m not sure why this piece receives as much attention as it has, though it might be a good idea to repost both comments.
http://www.artfagcity.com Art Fag City
Yeah, I noticed Hayley’s criticism while I was there but hadn’t realized she’d been so completely redrawn. I’m not sure why this piece receives as much attention as it has, though it might be a good idea to repost both comments.
http://pedrovelezartist.blogspot.com/2009/10/pedro-velez-and-law-office-protest.html pedrovel
Heather Warren Crow, an artist based in Milwaukee– I think –has been working on a book that will include the most complete analysis of Ann Lee and the flaws of it.
Also, one can’t help but notice how young the character is and how a pack of macho men have been pretty much selling her off in the street…but more dramatic is the fact that the one collector who moved all of Miami to keep little Elian Gonzalez in the US now owns the rights to derivative pieces of slavery.
http://pedrovelezartist.blogspot.com/2009/10/pedro-velez-and-law-office-protest.html pedrovel
Heather Warren Crow, an artist based in Milwaukee– I think –has been working on a book that will include the most complete analysis of Ann Lee and the flaws of it.
Also, one can’t help but notice how young the character is and how a pack of macho men have been pretty much selling her off in the street…but more dramatic is the fact that the one collector who moved all of Miami to keep little Elian Gonzalez in the US now owns the rights to derivative pieces of slavery.
http://tommoody.us tom moody
Pierre Huyghe anticipated pedrovel’s criticism by saying in an interview “we bought a virgin.” In other words, the buying of the character was intended as a metaphor for sex trafficking, among other things. It’s good to hear someone is writing a book addressing the project’s flaws (and other topics, I hope) but fear the controversy only adds to its aura. Annlee graced an Artforum cover 5 years ago, attracted a private collector, and obviously the Tate thinks she’s still important. Pointing out that Huyghe’s work has logical or conceptual errors is mostly lobbing spitballs at a castle. You can’t bring down an artist’s cult once it’s built, except, I think through apathy.
http://tommoody.us tom moody
Pierre Huyghe anticipated pedrovel’s criticism by saying in an interview “we bought a virgin.” In other words, the buying of the character was intended as a metaphor for sex trafficking, among other things. It’s good to hear someone is writing a book addressing the project’s flaws (and other topics, I hope) but fear the controversy only adds to its aura. Annlee graced an Artforum cover 5 years ago, attracted a private collector, and obviously the Tate thinks she’s still important. Pointing out that Huyghe’s work has logical or conceptual errors is mostly lobbing spitballs at a castle. You can’t bring down an artist’s cult once it’s built, except, I think through apathy.