From Ephemeral Works to Intangible or Invisible Works

By: Carlos Enrique Castillo G.

ccastillo@romeropineda.com

Although the issue of classification of works under Copyright is a complicated matter, since, according to various criteria, they can be classified in different ways, with respect to the author, these can be works of authorship. known, anonymous and pseudonymous. Based on the number of authors involved in their creation, the works can be individual, and from the intervention of more than one author, the works are called complex, and these in turn can be: complex works in collaboration, when two or more authors produce the same work that is objectively indivisible, so it is not possible to distinguish the part that each one has contributed; Composite works, where different authors intervene creating a work that is the result of the union of several identifiable parts. And collective works, which consist of a simple organized combination of independent works.

Compilation works, independent of the intervention of one or more authors, are those made up of a collection of works, provided that said collection, due to its selection or arrangement of its content or materials, constitutes an intellectual creation. The particularity of the latter requires, for their edition and publication, the express authorization of all the authors of the various works that comprise it.

So then, taking into account a criterion of duration in time (temporality) of the materialization of the work, we arrive at ephemeral works, which obviously have a temporal duration, which are created as a personal expression of the talent of one or more authors. , which develops (the work) a thought or idea, which manifests or materializes in a form perceptible by the senses, under parameters of originality, creativity and good faith. Its particularity is precisely the temporality of its materialization, that is to say that, after a period of time, this materialization fades, disappears, but it has left a real record of its existence, generally, photographs or a video document the creative process until the conclusion of the work.

The above has been the generality in terms of the classification of works, until the so-called immaterial or invisible art has emerged (recently). Questionable without a doubt, since it does not find how to fill the parameters that define a work, primarily due to the lack of perceptible materialization, since it cannot be seen or touched, much less is it perceptible by any other human sense, except by the sense of the humor, at least, the invisible works.

Notwithstanding the above, immaterial art can manifest itself in various ways, for example with the play of light and shadows, as a result of the intelligent arrangement of bodies or materials that reflect light or allow its passage, which, although they could be material abstract sculptures, due to this arrangement, location or placement that reflect light in a singular or unique way, this could be considered an immaterial work, it seems like the art of painting with light and shadows, but the extreme of immateriality, nonexistence , crosses any rational threshold to achieve its definition.

Invisible works are based on the assumption of an imaginary existence that the author makes with respect to the object of his work, which he transmits to an audience that applauds nothingness. The viewer cannot perceive the so-called work through any sense, but only shares the idea of its imaginary existence.

Already before (early 60's) we had to deal with conceptual art, but at least it started from a physical object, a material whose “reflexive” contemplation was based on the fact that the concept has priority over the object. , promoting intellectual reflection processes above the stimulation of sensory experiences. The spectator public participates by interpreting the “concept” exposed or proposed by the author.

Returning to invisible art, in recent years, it has been the subject of a heated controversy, especially due to the sale of an alleged immaterial, invisible, non-existent sculpture, for the amount of €15,000 (euros) at an auction, marked by the fact that the artist managed to find a buyer who appreciated nothingness as art, sharing with him only the idea that emptiness is a space full of energy.

This nice and unusual fact only made me remember one of my children's favorite childhood stories, “The Emperor's New Clothes” by Hans Christian Andersen, whose moral requires listening to reason, common sense, although no one dares to tell the truth. TRUE.