Do Modern Trends Require Us To Rethink Rules Governing Cultural Heritage?

Earlier posts on this site have noted the incongruity between rules governing street art and laws governing the art world. Citing an article in The New Yorker, Caroline Camp, in her post on Anonymous Art & Attribution, shed light on this disjunction vis-à-vis Exit Through the Gift Shop, the recent documentary on the renowned yet anonymous street artist Banksy. In keeping with the street art tradition, the documentary provided no credits, prompting filmmaker Joachim Levy to step forward and demand it. Levy argued that rules that govern street art are not appropriate to the film world.

A recent Los Angeles Times article points to another incongruity in rules governing the art world, a rupture caused by contemporary circumstances. Christopher Hawthorne suggests that modern schemes for solving issues of patrimony and cultural heritage may need an update to accommodate modern trends. Chandigarh, the Indian city designed in the 1950s by Modernist architect Le Corbusier and works by Banksy are his case studies.

Artists from Detroit's 555 Nonprofit Gallery and Studios recently removed a by Bansky-esque decorated concrete slab from an abandoned Packard plant. Artists at the gallery are allegedly acting to preserve the art from defacement by other graffiti artists and/or potential destruction when and if the plant is destroyed.