As part of their qLegal experience, a group of our volunteer students collaborated with internationally renowned photographer and performance artist, Manuel Vason to address a copyright ownership issue faced by performance artists.
Unframing Photography by Manuel Vason
Manuel is a ‘visionary artist exploring photography as a philosophical prism through which to engage with others, reflect on the self and expand the imaginal.’[1] He has been involved in over 250 international collaborations, six publications and global exhibitions; and he has a PhD on the interdependency between photography and performance art from the University for Creative Arts.
With his extensive experience, Manuel recognised the existing power imbalance in copyright ownership when it comes to photographs of performance art. Under current industry practice, when a photographer takes photographs of a performance artist’s performance, the photographer is generally seen as the sole creator and owner of the photographs and is entitled to the resulting benefits. Manuel pointed out that this does not fairly reflect the effort and dedication put in by the performance artist that enables the photographer to create the image. Manuel hoped to provide a pre-emptive approach where photographers and performance artists agree upfront to reflect their joint contribution, and both receive the benefit from their collaborative work.
He approached qLegal to develop a sample agreement that could facilitate fair division of copyright between photographers and performance artists. Additionally, he hoped to use the agreement to encourage dialogue between creative professionals on the issue of their legal rights and best practice.
The students conducted interviews with Manuel and researched the legal issues, before drafting a sample agreement that recognised both parties’ creative input and shared ownership of photographs in relation to a specific performance.
Using Legal Design - a methodology rooted in empathetic and creative problem-solving - the students identified the need to make the agreement accessible and user-friendly for the creative community. This involved finding the right balance between the students’ inclination to be as comprehensive as possible with a ‘less-is-more’ approach that meant the artists would not be put off by a wall of text and legal jargon.
In addition to using a range of drafting techniques that favour the reader rather than the writer, the students decided to create an explanatory video accessible through a QR code in the agreement which provides users with guidance on key provisions of the agreement. They received helpful feedback throughout from volunteer supervisors from international law firm, Baker McKenzie. To gain final feedback on their project the students presented their work to Manuel, the legal supervisors and two performing artists pursuing master's degrees at Queen Mary, Lewis Lammin and Rae Birchley.
Manuel expressed his appreciation, stating ‘the qLegal team has provided me with insightful information, they have helped me better understand my position as a photographer of performance, and they have assisted me in shaping a legal agreement that clarifies the different rights and obligations.’ This project empowered the students to provide practical solutions to real-world legal issues through innovation and collaboration. This reflects qLegal’s commitment to opening students’ eyes to new ways of being a lawyer and the power of learning by doing.
The qLegal students involved in this project were: Anand Soundararaj, Bhanvi Lingwal, Elia Ioana Ionescu, Hana Kamille Escueta, Hiroyuki Fujimoto, Jiuhong Wang, Jyotsna Jain, Khyati Mittal and Srujana Malladi; with the final drafting and video completed by qLegal Project Coordinator, Janan Foster.