In the exhibition called “Agency: Scripted by Characters” at CAC Agency present and archive on intellectual property law cases and speculate around the question: “How can ideas become included within art practices?” During a series of events, Agency proposes to read more in detail some of the controversies included inside the exhibition.
For Assembly (Scripted by Characters), Agency calls forth “Thing 001697 (60 Years Later: Coming Through the Rye)” which concerns a controversy between Jerome David Salinger and the Swedish writer Fredrik Colting around the book “60 Years Later: Coming Through the Rye”.
In 2009, Colting wrote “60 Years Later: Coming Through the Rye” under the pseudonym John David California. It tells the story of a seventy-six-year-old character, referred to as Mr. C, who lives in a world that includes a ninety-year-old unnamed author. The novel’s premise is that the unnamed author has been haunted by his character and now wishes to bring him back to life in order to kill him. J. D. Salinger claimed that Colting’s novel, “60 Years Later: Coming Through the Rye”, was a sequel of “The Catcher in the Rye” (1951) and that the character of Mr. C is an infringement of the character Holden Caulfield. During the court case “Salinger v. Colting” at the United States District Court in New York, judge Batts hesitated if Colting only used the idea or the expression of the character Holden Caulfield.
On December 14th 6 pm “Thing 001697 (60 Years Later: Coming Through the Rye)” will convene an assembly in order to bear witness. Agency invite you to gather around a specific curiosity case in the exhibition to hear from invited respondents from different practices, including literary critic dr. Rūta Šlapkauskaitė, writer dr. Rimas Užgiris, law prof. Mindaugas Kiškis, actor Ainis Storpirštis and psychotherapist Agnė Kirvaitienė about their thoughts and responses to it.
The language in which the assembly will take place will be English.
