Can This Building Be Saved?

Once again, a designer is faced with a heartbreaking question: who owns architecture? Does a unique and original design belong to the person who created it, or to the person who purchased it?

Volf Roitman, champion of the Madi movement, poured more than a year into designing the exterior walls and interior spaces of the colorful Madi Museum in Dallas, Texas. The result was a living sculpture constructed of floating geometric shapes. But only three years after his Madi Museum opened, Roitman learned that the property was up for sale. Real estate developers talked of razing the building and constructing condominiums.

Now, Roitman is trying to save his creation. He's citing the Visual Artists Rights Act, a 1990 law that says artists have the right to stop the mutilation of their creative works. The owners of the building, however, say that efforts to save Roitman's art reduce the value of the real estate. And, in any case, the Visual Artists Rights Act might not apply to Roitman: he may have sold rights to his designs when he accepted the commission.

Is there hope?

Commentary in the Dallas Observer: Goodbye, Art. Hello, Commerce >>

^{Photo © Volf Roitman}