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...
Published in: | Contemporaneity: Historical Presence in Visual Culture |
---|---|
Main Author: | |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
University Library System, University of Pittsburgh
2014
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://contemporaneity.pitt.edu/ojs/contemporaneity/article/view/96 |
id |
ftjchpvc:oai:contemporaneity.pitt.edu:article/96 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftjchpvc:oai:contemporaneity.pitt.edu:article/96 2024-09-15T18:06:35+00:00 Culture v. Capital: The Rebecca Belmore Case Young, India 2014-06-05 application/pdf http://contemporaneity.pitt.edu/ojs/contemporaneity/article/view/96 eng eng University Library System, University of Pittsburgh http://contemporaneity.pitt.edu/ojs/contemporaneity/article/view/96/103 http://contemporaneity.pitt.edu/ojs/contemporaneity/article/view/96 Copyright (c) 2014 India Young Contemporaneity: Historical Presence in Visual Culture; Vol. 3 (2014); 77-95 2153-5914 Rebecca Belmore First Nations Pari Nadimi Gallery Performance Art Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples United Nations info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion Peer-reviewed Article 2014 ftjchpvc 2024-07-10T03:00:35Z 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 Contemporaneity: Historical Presence in Visual Culture (University of Pittsburgh) Contemporaneity: Historical Presence in Visual Culture 3 77 95 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Contemporaneity: Historical Presence in Visual Culture (University of Pittsburgh) |
op_collection_id |
ftjchpvc |
language |
English |
topic |
Rebecca Belmore First Nations Pari Nadimi Gallery Performance Art Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples United Nations |
spellingShingle |
Rebecca Belmore First Nations Pari Nadimi Gallery Performance Art Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples United Nations Young, India Culture v. Capital: The Rebecca Belmore Case |
topic_facet |
Rebecca Belmore First Nations Pari Nadimi Gallery Performance Art Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples United Nations |
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 |
Young, India |
author_facet |
Young, India |
author_sort |
Young, India |
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 |
http://contemporaneity.pitt.edu/ojs/contemporaneity/article/view/96 |
genre |
First Nations |
genre_facet |
First Nations |
op_source |
Contemporaneity: Historical Presence in Visual Culture; Vol. 3 (2014); 77-95 2153-5914 |
op_relation |
http://contemporaneity.pitt.edu/ojs/contemporaneity/article/view/96/103 http://contemporaneity.pitt.edu/ojs/contemporaneity/article/view/96 |
op_rights |
Copyright (c) 2014 India Young |
container_title |
Contemporaneity: Historical Presence in Visual Culture |
container_volume |
3 |
container_start_page |
77 |
op_container_end_page |
95 |
_version_ |
1810443998283694080 |