"Curating Contemporary Art" Seminar Program
Seminar: Contemporary Art and Curatorship with a Focus on Intellectual Property and Art Law
Speaker: Attorney Pınar Sönmez
Time: 18:00-19:30
What constitutes a work protected under Intellectual Property and Art Law—and what does not?
What are the moral and economic rights of the author?
How should the legal dimensions of curatorial practice be assessed?
What are the key legal considerations in exhibitions and contracts?
What are the complexities—and future directions—of legal frameworks concerning digital intellectual property, digital art, and artificial intelligence?
Cases, precedents, and practice.
About Attorney Pınar Sönmez
Pınar Sönmez graduated from the Faculty of Law at Marmara University. She completed her legal traineeship under Gürsel Öngören and Mehmet Köksal. She later worked for eight years as a Legal Counsel at the General Directorate of Türkiye İş Bankası. Following this, she began working together with Prof. Dr. Gürsel Öngören as a partner attorney and legal consultant specializing in Intellectual Property and Art Law.
Today, Pınar Sönmez provides legal consultancy and contributes to national and international platforms ranging from the business and art worlds to private museums. She has also made her voice heard as a columnist for Istanbul Art News and Politikyol.
Sönmez has authored numerous articles published in peer-reviewed and current journals on topics such as contemporary political science, digital technologies, the creative industries, law, art, literature, branding, urban studies, legal cases, and legislation. She frequently participates as a speaker at national and international symposia, legal conferences, and events organized by art institutions.
In addition to her legal career, Sönmez is also a writer. Her short stories have been published in literary journals such as Kitap-lık, Notos, and Sözcükler, and she is the author of the short story collection Uyku Kaçsa Rüya Kalsa. Her book Aşk, Yaratıcılık ve Yasa (Love, Creativity and Law) is considered the first contemporary book on Art Law published in Türkiye.
Pınar Sönmez currently teaches Intellectual Property and Art Law at Yeditepe University in the Department of Arts and Cultural Management and at Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University. Her analyses on current legal issues are also published on Yetkin Report.
* This seminar is organized in collaboration between Akbank Sanat and Open Dialogue Istanbul
* To learn conditions of participation in a single seminar, we would kindly ask you to send an e-mail to apply@curatingcontemporaryart.org address noting the required seminar details. Single seminar participation fee is 850 TL for adults, 650 TL for students (VAT included).
* The program will take place on the online platform Zoom.