Kendell Geers has called on fellow artist Kader Attia to drop his plagiarism injunction against a French rap duo, Dosseh et Nekfeu, in an open letter published on Le Monde’s art blog. Attia is currently suing the rappers for a video that features rows of assembled figures, all dressed in silver-foil emergency hoods – a visual image which bears a close resemblance to Attia’s installation Ghost (2007).
In his letter, Geers argues that copying, quoting or even plagiarism have always been an important aspect of avant-garde art, citing the Surrealists, Guy Debord and the cut-up approach of William Burroughs and Bryon Gysin: ‘Their Cut Up concept was itself lifted from Tristan Tzara and has since evolved into what might be read as the spiritual core of Rap, Hip Hop, urban culture and the corner stone of Pop Art and Post Modernism,’ Geers argues. Accusing the artworld of judging artists ‘only by price, sales and market ranking’, Geers asks Attia to ‘grant your fellow artists the right to quote, sample, pay homage and express themselves as artists’. The letter also includes visual comparisons of works by Geers and Attia, which share striking similarities.
7 December 2016
