On Edge

Model Artist’s Contract

We developed a model contract to be used by artists in the wake of the legal battles between Paul Wong and the Vancouver Art Gallery (1984-86) after the gallery censored Wong’s video installation exhibition of CONFUSED: SEXUAL VIEWS. The lack of a written contract between the artist and the gallery in that case allowed the gallery to be successful in court in defending itself against the censorship charge.

In May 1987, a draft of the contract was presented to the CARFAC “Action Now” Conference, Halifax, and again at the ANNPAC “In Search of the Public” Conference, in Peterborough, in June 1987. From June-December 1987, we set up the Clearinghouse Project  - a national call for existing artists’ contracts to be sent to On Edge, then amended or incorporated into the Final Draft, completed for distribution by  December 1987.

Our completed contract was presented to the National Association of Media Arts Centres Conference in Atlanta in spring 1988. It was then published in Media Arts magazine in the spring of 1990 and accepted for use by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Los Angeles.

Please feel free to copy and use. Model Artist’s Contract