Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts solicits applications from professional visual artists and arts writers for its new Art & Law Residency Program, the first program of its kind.
Program dates: January 10, 2011 through August 30, 2011
Application deadline: November 1, 2010
Notification: December 1, 2010
Program Goal
As legal and judicial issues now permeate every aspect of social, political and cultural life, artistic production is no longer immune. The Art & Law Residency
provides an intellectual and artistic setting for participants to engage in ongoing discussions and debates that examine the overlap and disconnect between
artistic production and the law from historical, social, ethical and intellectual standpoints. Using law as both a discourse and medium, new visual artwork and critical writing will come into being through the Program. All the participants will also gain experience and knowledge they can carry into the future beyond the Program.
Overview
The core of the Program will be semi-monthly Seminars directed at the theoretical and critical examination of current art and law issues. Seminars will take place at the law firm ofMorrison & Foerster LLP. Faculty as well as leading legal scholars and visiting artists will lead these Seminars. During the course of the Program, artists and writers will develop new projects and papers and receive support from Faculty on a regular basis to discuss and address the aesthetic, practical, philosophical, legal and judicial aspects of their work. The Residency will culminate in a public Exhibition and Symposium held at the Maccarone Gallery in New York City where the participants will exhibit their projects and present papers. For a list of Current Fellows and their Bios please visit: http://www.vlany.org/education/residents.php
Program Provides
Seminars series: Twice a month, a legal scholar, artist and/or Program Faculty will lead Seminars as well as assign related readings. Topics for lectures and group discussions will include practical, theoretical, philosophical and speculative perspectives on art, property (tangible and intangible), contract, constitutional, and international law as well as free speech.
Legal consultation and representation: Access to private consultations with attorneys and work with assigned pro bono representation for individual projects as required. Additional legal advice and guidance in the form of individual meetings to discuss general practical and theoretical questions may be arranged.
Exhibition and Symposium: The culminating Exhibition and Symposium will be held at theMaccarone Gallery, in New York City, in August 2011. Art criticism participants will present papers at an evening Symposium and visual artists will display their final work during this Exhibition. A modest stipend will be provided towards production costs and/or research materials.
VLA Residency Faculty:
Sergio Muñoz Sarmiento, Esq., Program Director and Faculty
Sarmiento is a visual artist and art lawyer interested in the intersection of art and law. He received his BA in Art from the University of Texas-El Paso, and an MFA in Art from The California Institute of the Arts. He was a Van Lier Fellow at the Whitney Museum's Independent Study Program in Studio and received his J.D. from Cornell Law School. He has taught critical theory, art law, and studio art at Harvard University, USC, U.C. Irvine, Occidental College, and CalArts, and lectured at a number of institutions, including Dia:Beacon, Fordham Law School, ICP/Bard, New York University School of Law, Pratt Institute, The Bronx Museum, Yale University, SVA, The Vera List Center for Arts and Politics, Columbia University School of the Arts, LMCC, Columbia Law School, Cornell Law School, Harvard University, and the Centre Sociologie de l'Innovation, Ecole des Mines de Paris. His work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, and his essays published in Cabinet Magazine, Law Text Culture, and Unbound: Harvard Journal of the Legal Left.
Elena M. Paul, Esq., Advisor and Program Faculty
Elena M. Paul is an arts and entertainment attorney and the Executive Director of Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts. In her legal practice, Paul represents artists and arts organizations specializing in corporate, transactional and intellectual property law. Paul has presented at institutions on a national basis, including College Art Association, Columbia University, Dance/NYC, the French Culinary Institute, Harvard Law School, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, the School of Visual Arts, New York University, Sundance Film Festival and SXSW. She is also an Adjunct Professor at the New York Film Academy and the Brooklyn Law School. Paul received her Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Davidson College, phi beta kappa, and her Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School. Paul was a Wasserstein Public Interest Fellow at Harvard Law School and is a mentor for The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in its Arts in Crisis Program.
Erin Donnelly, Exhibition Coordinator and Curator
Erin Donnelly is an arts manager and curator. She recently moved into a role as Special Projects Consultant after five years as Director of Artist Residencies at LMCC, where she has worked since 2001. Curated gallery exhibitions and public art projects have been organized in New York City, Peekskill, NY and Vienna, Austria. She has spoken at The Cue Foundation, NYFA and the NYPL Mid-Manhattan Library and lectured at Bennington College, Cleveland Art Institute, and Columbia University, among others. She has taught at New York University and is a mentor for the Richard and Mica Hadar Foundation. In 2000-01 she was a Helena Rubinstein Curatorial Studies Fellow, Whitney Independent Study Program She received an MA from the Gallatin School of Individualized Study, Certificate in Museum Studies, and BA in Fine Arts, all from NYU.
Seminar Leaders include:
•Regina Austin, William A. Schnader Professor of Law, University of Pennsylvania Law School
•Eduardo Cadava, Professor, Princeton University
•John F. Delaney, Partner, Morrison & Foerster LLP
•Nate Harrison, PhD candidate, Art and Media History, Theory and Criticism in the Visual Arts Department at the University of California, San Diego
•Sonia K. Katyal, Professor of Law, Fordham Law School
•Cristina S. Martinez, PhD History of Art and History of Law, Post-Doctoral Fellow, University of Toronto
•Shamim M. Momin, Director and Curator of Los Angeles Nomadic Division (LAND)
•Trevor Paglen, Artist
•Stephan Pascher, Artist
•Eduardo M. Peñalver, Professor of Law, Cornell Law School
•Annelise Riles, Jack G. Clarke Chair in Far East Legal Studies and Professor of Anthropology, Cornell Law School
•Virginia Rutledge, Copyright Attorney and Art Historian
•Charity Scribner, PhD Comparative Literature, Columbia University, Literary and Cultural Theorist
•Alfred Steiner, Esq., Artist and Attorney, Morrison & Foerster LLP
•Radhika Subramaniam, Director and Chief Curator for Shelia C. Johnson Design Center
Seminar Topics Include:
•Constitutional Interpretation
•Intellectuals and the Law
•Critical Theory vs. Legal Theory
•Property and Religion
•Copyright, Trademark and Contemporary Art Practices
•Documentary Film Practices and the Law
•Land Use and Nomadic Artistic Practices
•Photography and Justice
•Creativity, Copyright, and Fair Use
•Historical Origin (and separation) of Art and Law
•Geography and Law
•Urban Space and Justice
•Free Speech
•Photography and Film: Right of Privacy and Right of Publicity
•Fashion and Law
Participation
Participants are required to attend semi-monthly Seminars as well as participate actively in group discussion and individual project and paper development. Participants who successfully complete the Seminar series will participate in the final Exhibition and Symposium. The semi-monthly Seminars will be held on Mondays from 6-9 pm at the law firm of Morrison & Foerster LLP. Seminars commence in January 2011.
Eligibility
Applicants must have a minimum four-year professional record. Visual artists working in all media may apply. Writers may have backgrounds in Art History, Art Theory, and Art Criticism and be strongly engaged with contemporary visual art. Artists and writers interested in issues of constitutional law, contracts, property, free speech and intellectual property are especially encouraged to apply.
How To Apply
Please submit all parts of the applications by mail or in-person by November 1, 2010 (in-office receipt) to:
VLA
Art & Law Residency Program
1 East 53rd Street, 6th Floor
New York, NY 10022
Proposal: Please indicate if you would like to participate as a visual artist or writer. The 250-word proposal should include a description of your intended project or paper, related research and questions as well as how the Program might benefit your investigation.
Resume or CV: Detailing most relevant accomplishments including education, exhibitions, residencies, publications, awards. Please include name, address, phone, email and website.
Two References: Including contact information
Work Sample:
-For visual artists: 15-20 images of recent work on DVD or CD, or up to 5-minutes of recent video on DVD. Save images as .jpg, 1000 x 1000 pixels at 72 dpi. Please include an image list detailing title, date, materials, and dimensions or running times.
-For writers: Two recent writing samples, totaling no more than 20 pages, double spaced.
Other submission guidelines:
Include your name on each page you submit. Do not submit original material, VHS tapes or 35 mm slides. Applications will not be returned. Late applications will not be considered.
Please note: There is no application form or application fee.
Application materials will be treated with care; however, the Program is not responsible for their loss or damage. Please include a self-addressed stamped envelope if you would like your DVD or CD returned. Additional materials will not be returned.
Selection and Notification Process
Participants will be selected by Program Faculty on the strength of their application and demonstrated potential for vigorous debate and group discussion. Candidates should show promise for artistic and intellectual growth in their own work during the course of the Residency as well as any possible contribution their work and research may make to the field at large. Selected participants will be notified December 1, 2010 .
The VLA Art & Law Residency Program is made possible in part by a generous grant from the Dedalus Foundation, and in-kind contributions from Maccarone Gallery and Morrison & Foerster LLP.
Application inquiries via e-mail are preferred: VLAResidency@vlany.org
