Copyright Law

Phish Food

By Intellectual Property Law, Esq.

"A convict on death row in America has agreed to let his body be made into a work of art if his final appeal against execution fails. Gene Hathorn, who has been on death row since 1985, has given his consent for artist Marco Evaristti, the bad boy of the Danish art scene, to use his body as an art installation. 'My aim is to first deep freeze Gene's body and then make fish food out of it. Visitors to my exhibition will be able to feed goldfish with it,' Evaristti told the Art Newspaper."

Lawprof Ann Althouse: "Oh, bullshit. How is this different from scattering ashes on... wherever... a beach volleyball court in China?"

It's supposed to say something about capital punishment, but Althouse says: "The artist imagines that the work will somehow make an argument against capital punishment. I make my living trying to fathom legal arguments, and I don't see it at all."

Full post as published by The Art Law Blog on September 03, 2008 (boomark / email).