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"The kind of incident where people fall across a cordon in a gallery is very unusual"

By Intellectual Property Law, Esq.

This morning's New York Times reports that "a visitor at an exhibition at the Royal Academy in London on Saturday slipped and fell into a nine-foot ceramic sculpture, smashing it into hundreds of pieces .... The damaged sculpture, ... valued at approximately $11,900, was part of an exhibition organized by the artist Tracey Emin." The Guardian's Laura Barnett has much more, including the following:

"Financial compensation is ... the main concern for artists, curators and owners when an artwork ends up smashed to smithereens. According to Robert Read, a fine art underwriter at the specialist insurers Hiscox, accidental damage accounts for between 50% and 60% of the claims the company handles each year. The vast majority of these arise ... following damage incurred while works are being moved or transported."

Full post as published by The Art Law Blog on July 30, 2008 (boomark / email).