Thursday, December 18, 2025 @ 10:00 am – 11:00 am
Join Associate Professor Sergio Alberto Gramitto Ricci(opens in a new tab) (Hofstra University Maurice A. Deane School of Law) and Professor Carliss N. Chatman(opens in a new tab) (SMU Dedman School of Law) in conversation with Delia Violante(opens in a new tab), Founding Director of the Berkeley Art, Law, and Finance Project, for a groundbreaking discussion on whether artworks should possess legal rights independent of their creators and owners.
Could artworks themselves have legal standing? This provocative question drives our panel’s exploration of Professor Gramitto Ricci’s paper “Legal Personhood for Artwork(opens in a new tab)” and its innovative framework. The discussion will address critical issues including the exploitation of indigenous cultural heritage and the recognition of art’s fundamental role in society.
This paradigm shift would transform art law—centering legal protection on artworks themselves rather than solely on artists or collectors—and could fundamentally reshape how we safeguard cultural heritage in the 21st century.