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Artists take risks for all of us. Explore a global network that’s ready to help.

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Event

Art Law Forum - Cancelled

Venice, June 4-5, 2020

UPDATE: We are deeply sorry to announce that this event has been cancelled due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

The Artists at Risk Connection (ARC) is pleased to join Avant-Garde Lawyers, alongside Columbia University’s Global Freedom of Expression initiative, to organize the first Art Law Forum in Venice, Italy on June 4-5, 2020, in collaboration with the Global Campus of Human Rights. 

Purpose

Initiated by Avant-Garde Lawyers, the Art Law Forum seeks to become an annual interdisciplinary gathering bringing together artists and art-interested legal professionals, including academics, judges, and lawyers, to collectively discuss how the law can be used to protect and expand the space for artistic expression. Art’s ever-evolving forms and content pose a significant challenge to the law. The two domains appear to live in separate universes and yet, it is in a courtroom that the obscene, the immoral, and the outrageous in a work of art are finally assessed. One of the Forum’s primary aims is a reconciliation between these two spheres, bridging the divide between legal professionals and artists by clearly communicating the ways that the law is both used to justify the restriction of creative endeavors, at the same time as a mechanism for protecting artists and strengthening artistic freedom of expression.

Speakers

Karima Bennoune, UN Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights

Manfred Nowak, Independent Expert leading the United Nations Global Study on Children Deprived of Liberty, Secretary General of the Global Campus of Human Rights, former United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture (2004 to 2010), and former United Nations Expert on Enforced Disappearances(1993-2006)

Julia Laffranque, Judge at the European Court of Human Rights

Paul Lemmens, Judge at the European Court of Human Rights and founder of the Leuven Institute for Human Rights and Critical Studies

Ramy Essam, 2019 Recipient of Václav Havel Prize for Creative Dissent; Egyptian singer whose songs served as anthems of resistance during the Arab Spring movement of 2011  

Join us

Participants will be selected based on their professional profile and relevant work experience with artists and/or in the field of freedom of expression. Given the high-level nature of the event, the number of places is limited and priority will be given to those that register first. We strongly recommend that you pre-register using the link below before the official registration is open on the 5 of March 2020.

The price for participation in the forum will be 250 EUR/275 USD including all meals and activities. A limited amount of partial and full participation fee waivers is available for NGO representatives and individual lawyers and artists. Please indicate if you would like to be considered for a waiver in the pre-registration link here.

Avant-Garde Lawyers, Artists at Risk Connection, and Columbia University’s Global Freedom of Expression initiative are actively seeking sponsors and partners to collaborate with on this crucial project. If you would like to partner with us, please fill out this form.

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