Question of the Month

Dear CMSI,

I work at a museum and I’m on a team that’s putting together an exhibition on art emerging from twenty-first-century protest movements, with a web component and an interactive, online catalogue. Some of the art is digital, some is ephemeral, some of it was created anonymously. I already have access to most of it, but do I need to get permissions before I can use it? Read more...

Dear CMSI,

I am working on an installation. One of its main features will be a display with current websites of top news sources in different countries. It was also have a loop playing below it of headline news from the week before. Do I have to ask permission from anyone to build this material into my work? Read more...

Dear CMSI,

I am mounting an exhibition that involves art that features reproductions of many corporate logos. Do I have to license all these logos? And do I have to blur them out on the images representing the exhibition on my website? Read more...

Dear CMSI,

I've just gotten an academic article accepted! It’s a comparison of the work of two major later twentieth-century painters. I've been able to find acceptable-quality reproductions of the work I'm comparing, but the journal asks authors to get permission for all illustrations. Do I have to get permission? Read more...

Dear CMSI,

Next Fall I'll be teaching art history for the first time. I've got some great donations of slides from fellow profs, as well as my own photographs from museums, monuments, books, and websites - but I don't have permission for any of this, and at least half of it is probably copyrighted. How much can I do with it? I'd like to show it in class and put relevant slides up on the class (password-protected) website. Read more...