Recognising artists' rights : a new challenge to the human rights paradigm

Abstract

Artistic work is a strange bird in our legal culture, particularly so in labour law that is permeated by the logic of industrial production. We therefore have difficulties in envisaging the kind of protection that labour law should accord artists as well as other persons, whose work differs from the standard on which labour law is based. This problem has gained increasing topicality with the diversification of working life that has followed in the wake of the information society. Artists can therefore be seen as precursors for work in IT society. To recognise artistic and cultural work and to introduce appropriate provisions for such work is a compelling need in order to catch up with social change. This requires a new conceptual framework that is considered in this article. The point of departure is the existing set of economic, social and cultural rights that are primarily approached through concepts devised by theories of social justice.