Before 1 August 1989, when moral rights legislation was introducedinto UK law via the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (see thesection on Copyright After 1989), artists in the UK had no statutoryrights to protect their works against derogatory treatment when exposedto the public. The earliest piece in this section, in 1983, presentsarguments for the introduction of moral rights legislation in the UK,and other pieces discuss examples of abuses to artworks in the UK andUS; in particular the problems involved in the removal of site-specificworks. For example, Richard Serra's Tilted Arc, Robert Newmann'sManhattan mural, and Ian McCulloch's Glasgow Concert Hall mural.

Other pieces focus on issues of conservation, renovation andrestoration - in relation to works of artists protected by statutorymoral rights, and older works not so protected. For example, thecleaning of Jacopo della Querica's 15th century marble tomb sculpturein Florence and legal disputes arising therefrom; challenges to thelegitimacy of the cleaning of Mona Lisa; and concerns about thedilapidation of Brancusi's Endless Column. Professional ethical issuesand concerns for conservators, curators, artists or their estates, areexamined in this context together with questions about themortality/immortality of artworks.