Culture v. Capital: The Rebecca Belmore Case
This paper considers a civil suit between an artist and her former gallery dealer. In the case of Nadimi v. Belmore, the plaintiff and the defendant exemplify two opposing ideologies, which in turn reflect two possibilities for understanding art. This paper considers the case, and Belmore’s artworks...
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University Library System, University of Pittsburgh
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:5345ef9119ed45c692091582d424a15e 2023-05-15T16:15:52+02:00 Culture v. Capital: The Rebecca Belmore Case India Young 2014-06-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.5195/contemp.2014.96 https://doaj.org/article/5345ef9119ed45c692091582d424a15e EN eng University Library System, University of Pittsburgh http://contemporaneity.pitt.edu/ojs/index.php/contemporaneity/article/view/96 https://doaj.org/toc/2153-5914 2153-5914 doi:10.5195/contemp.2014.96 https://doaj.org/article/5345ef9119ed45c692091582d424a15e Contemporaneity: Historical Presence in Visual Culture, Vol 3, Iss 0, Pp 77-95 (2014) Rebecca Belmore First Nations Pari Nadimi Gallery Performance Art Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples United Nations Visual arts N1-9211 article 2014 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.5195/contemp.2014.96 2022-12-31T13:50:50Z This paper considers a civil suit between an artist and her former gallery dealer. In the case of Nadimi v. Belmore, the plaintiff and the defendant exemplify two opposing ideologies, which in turn reflect two possibilities for understanding art. This paper considers the case, and Belmore’s artworks as representative of both systems. Through a strategic defense of her art and her practice, Belmore upholds a complex understanding of the value of art. The current legal system, however, only ascribes art value as commodity product. This paper demonstrates how Belmore’s actions and artworks related to the case supersede simple categorization. Her works cannot be corralled into any one classification; they are not only fine art, nor simply First Nations art. The article exposes how her works deploy multiple socio-cultural systems simultaneously: from an Anishnabe worldview, to European-Canadian art history, from the public museum, to the commercial gallery, to the Toronto bound freeway. I contend that this strategic employment of multiple systems is recognized in newly established international law, and articulated in the United Nations Declaration of Indigenous Peoples as traditional knowledge. The Belmore case illustrates the immediate need for governmental systems to acknowledge and employ such international law to redress systemic misconceptions of Indigenous arts practices. Article in Journal/Newspaper First Nations Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Contemporaneity: Historical Presence in Visual Culture 3 77 95 |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
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ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Rebecca Belmore First Nations Pari Nadimi Gallery Performance Art Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples United Nations Visual arts N1-9211 |
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Rebecca Belmore First Nations Pari Nadimi Gallery Performance Art Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples United Nations Visual arts N1-9211 India Young Culture v. Capital: The Rebecca Belmore Case |
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Rebecca Belmore First Nations Pari Nadimi Gallery Performance Art Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples United Nations Visual arts N1-9211 |
description |
This paper considers a civil suit between an artist and her former gallery dealer. In the case of Nadimi v. Belmore, the plaintiff and the defendant exemplify two opposing ideologies, which in turn reflect two possibilities for understanding art. This paper considers the case, and Belmore’s artworks as representative of both systems. Through a strategic defense of her art and her practice, Belmore upholds a complex understanding of the value of art. The current legal system, however, only ascribes art value as commodity product. This paper demonstrates how Belmore’s actions and artworks related to the case supersede simple categorization. Her works cannot be corralled into any one classification; they are not only fine art, nor simply First Nations art. The article exposes how her works deploy multiple socio-cultural systems simultaneously: from an Anishnabe worldview, to European-Canadian art history, from the public museum, to the commercial gallery, to the Toronto bound freeway. I contend that this strategic employment of multiple systems is recognized in newly established international law, and articulated in the United Nations Declaration of Indigenous Peoples as traditional knowledge. The Belmore case illustrates the immediate need for governmental systems to acknowledge and employ such international law to redress systemic misconceptions of Indigenous arts practices. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
India Young |
author_facet |
India Young |
author_sort |
India Young |
title |
Culture v. Capital: The Rebecca Belmore Case |
title_short |
Culture v. Capital: The Rebecca Belmore Case |
title_full |
Culture v. Capital: The Rebecca Belmore Case |
title_fullStr |
Culture v. Capital: The Rebecca Belmore Case |
title_full_unstemmed |
Culture v. Capital: The Rebecca Belmore Case |
title_sort |
culture v. capital: the rebecca belmore case |
publisher |
University Library System, University of Pittsburgh |
publishDate |
2014 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5195/contemp.2014.96 https://doaj.org/article/5345ef9119ed45c692091582d424a15e |
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First Nations |
genre_facet |
First Nations |
op_source |
Contemporaneity: Historical Presence in Visual Culture, Vol 3, Iss 0, Pp 77-95 (2014) |
op_relation |
http://contemporaneity.pitt.edu/ojs/index.php/contemporaneity/article/view/96 https://doaj.org/toc/2153-5914 2153-5914 doi:10.5195/contemp.2014.96 https://doaj.org/article/5345ef9119ed45c692091582d424a15e |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5195/contemp.2014.96 |
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Contemporaneity: Historical Presence in Visual Culture |
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3 |
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77 |
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95 |
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1766001745228464128 |