Join your fellow ARLIS/NA New York members for a visit to The Public's Domain: Transforming Iconic Works of Fiction and Sound at NYU's Bobst Library Gallery on Thursday, October 30. This exhibition is curated by Giana Ricci, ARLIS/NA NY Chapter member and Librarian for the Fine Arts and Head of the Arts, Performance, and Humanistic Inquiry Department at New York University Libraries. Giana will also be giving a tour of the art stacks and a guided overview of the exhibition. Attendees will also enjoy a mixer with treats generously sponsored by New York University Libraries’ Institute of Fine Arts Library.
Every year, creative works that were previously protected by copyright law in the United States enter into the public domain, which means that we can build upon, copy, and share the work for free. This opens up a great deal of inspirational material each year that artists can use in their work without worrying about infringing upon the copyright of the original creator. Iconic works of fiction such as A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway, The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner, and A Room of One’s Own by Virgina Woolf, all entered into the public domain in 2025. Sound recordings from 1924 that still influence the shape of music today, such as George Gershwin’s performance of Rhapsody in Blue and Jelly Roll Morton playing Shreveport Stomp, can now freely be reused in new sound recordings.
The Public's Domain: Transforming Iconic Works of Fiction and Sound brings together artwork created by NYU students, faculty, staff, and alumni that remix, reuse, adapt, and transform works of creative expression that entered the public domain in 2025. Through various formats and media, the artists bring contemporary perspectives to stories and performances originally published a century ago. These connections and contrasts provide opportunities for our community to engage on topics that have remained relevant within American culture for over a hundred years.
The visit will be capped at 15 participants and registration is limited to members of ARLIS/NA's New York Chapter. We will meet for the visit in the lobby of Bobst at 70 Washington South in Manhattan.
If you have any questions about the visit, please reach out to Joey Vincennie, Programming Coordinator at vincennie@frick.org.
Image Credit: NYU Libraries
ID: A photograph of the exterior of NYU's Bobst Library.
