Copyright Management by Contemporary Art Exhibition Institutions in Poland: Case Study of the Zachęta National Gallery of Art

The mission of cultural institutions is the expression of sustainable development, which assumes a specific social order based on respect for the right of access to culture and care for the common good which is cultural heritage, in order to preserve it for future generations. To best implement its social mission, the essence of museum activities is not only collecting resources but also promoting the collection. In addition, promotion in accordance with the principle of openness and the conviction that cultural heritage is a common good, which is why it should be available to the widest possible public. Copyright in artworks often stands in the way of implementing an open approach to the dissemination of collections. Contemporary museums and galleries of art are in a special situation; their collections are not yet in the public domain, and so they cannot be freely distributed. The undertaken research problem explores how cultural institutions in Poland manage the copyright of collections in order to carry out their mission in a sustainable way. In this context, copyright is treated as an important intangible resource of a cultural institution. The case study was used as the research strategy in order to understand the subject. Activities implemented at the Zachęta National Gallery of Art in Warsaw were described.