Midway Contemporary Art, Minneapolis, is pleased to announce Consideration, a solo show by London-based artist Carey Young which features a series of legally-enforceable contracts between artist and viewer.

Created in conjunction with a legal team, the text, video and performative works entice the viewer into agreements that explore notions of individual autonomy, freedom of speech and the social contract.  Engaging participants in a series of contractual relationships, Young dissects the viewer's experience of the exhibition, from accepting the invitation, to entering the exhibition space, to owning one of the works in the show.
 
With legally-trained executives increasingly running movie studios, news agencies and universities, Consideration interrogates the legal ‘lock down’ of contemporary cultural life and develops Young's interest in legal structures, language and the performative.

Consideration was first presented at Paula Cooper Gallery from November 16 - 19 2005 as part of PERFORMA05, the first biennial of visual art performance in New York City.

Notes to Editors

Carey Young (born 1970, UK/US citizen) is an artist based in London. Using a variety of media including text, performance and video, her work investigates the growing incorporation of the personal and public domains into the commercial realm, with a number of her recent works exploring legal language and systems of control. She has exhibited widely, most notably in shows such as A Short History of Performance, Part II (Whitechapel Gallery, London, 2003), The British Art Show 6 (BALTIC, Newcastle & tour, 2005-2006), How to Improve the World (Hayward Gallery, London, 2006), Global Feminisms (Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York, 2007) and the Moscow Biennale 2 (2007.) Her works are held in the public collections of the Arts Council England, Tate Modern and the Centre Pompidou. For more information on her work see www.careyyoung.com
 
Legal team on the project:

Robert Lands is a partner in the Intellectual Property and Media department of the London-based law firm Finers Stephens Innocent. He advises on all facets of the visual arts, acting on behalf of several well known artists, photographers and designers. He advises the Arts Council England on intellectual property issues and writes and speaks regularly on visual arts and the law. www.fsilaw.co.uk
 
Jaime Stapleton is Associate Research Fellow at the School of Law, Birkbeck College, University of London.  He is an advisor to Cambridge University’s ‘Primary Sources on Copyright’ project, and a consultant to the World Intellectual Property Organisation. His doctoral research examined the relations between creative theory, intellectual property and political economy and was awarded in 2003. www.jaimestapleton.info     
  

Gallery Information:
Midway Contemporary Art
527 Second Avenue Southeast
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55414
Telephone: 612+605+4504
Facsimile: 612+605+4538
www.midwayart.org
 
Regular gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 11AM to 5 PM. For more information or images please contact the gallery at (+1) 612 605 4504