DUTCH ARTIST CLAIMS DUKE RILEY’S BROOKLYN PIGEON PERFORMANCE WAS HIS IDEA

According to Andy Newman of the New York Times, Dutch artist Jasper van den Brink said that when the news of Duke Riley’s well-received ongoing performance piece Fly by Night—which involves releasing thousands of pigeons with LED lights attached to their legs over the Brooklyn Navy Yard to illuminate the night sky—he thought, “How is this possible?”

Van den Brink was shocked because he alleges the idea of a light performance in which a flock of pigeons fly at night wearing LED lights was originally his idea. Except it was supposed to take place in Stockholm. He described the project in the spring 2006 issue of the New York–based magazine Cabinet_ but said he abandoned the idea because pigeons cannot easily fly at night. The artist’s lawyer sent a letter to Creative Time—who helped organize the piece—requesting that Riley and the organization credit van den Brink and agree to license his work.

In response, Creative Time’s executive director Katie Hollander said, “He has nothing to license.” Riley said he has never heard of van den Brink before now. He added that the idea to light up the sky using pigeons “has been something that’s been a reoccurring vision in my head for probably over three decades.” As a teenager, he had drawn what he imagined it would look like and has sketches of the project from 1988.

Amy Adler, a New York University law school professor, confirmed that van den Brink has no case. “You can’t copyright an idea,” she said. “If you allowed anyone with an idea to stop other people from making work, creative expression would grind to a halt.”