In the Art Newspaper, Julia Halperin reports on an interesting, if creepy, court case and decision. Photographer Arne Svenson (not pictured on the right) spent 18 months used a telephoto lens to watch and snap photos of his neighbors.
In his artist statement he wrote, "“I am not unlike the birder, quietly waiting for hours, watching for the flutter of a hand or the movement of a curtain as an indication that there is life within.”
Just before some of these photos were due to be displayed at a New York gallery, the neighbors spotted one of his images of their children accompanying an article about the show. They objected, and Sevnson agreed not to display those, but not to change his exhibition of the rest.
The neighbors took him to court, demanding he surrender to the court any other photos he'd taken of their children and pay damages for their emotional distress.
The court ruled against them.
The judge said "while it makes plaintiffs cringe to think their private lives and images of their small children can find their way into the public forum of an art exhibition, there is no redress under the current laws of the State of New York”.
She also said artistic free speech is guaranteed by the First Amendment, so articles about or ads for the exhibition also have the right to show the images.
The exhibition is now over. The artist sold 15 prints. The family may appeal.
The article states, "While a photographer’s right to take pictures of people on the street without express permission is well documented, Svenson’s case was less cut-and-dry, according to Mickey Osterreicher, the general counsel for the National Press Photographers Association. 'There is an axiom that your home is your castle—a place where you are entitled to a reasonable expectation of privacy,' he notes. 'But what happens when you live in a glass house?'
It raises the question of whether a writer would have the same rights to write, for instance, a series of short stories based on what he or she observes by looking through a neighbor's windows. I guess because prose is more likely to involve interpretations of what's happening, that could more easily be challenged.
Still, you might want to consider closing those curtains!
