SAFE CREATIVE:

ITS ALLIANCE WITH ARTISTS ON THE INTERNET

Safe Creative, the largest electronic registry of intellectual property online, renews its collaboration with Art Madrid. This time with Arte & Palabra. Conversations with Carlos del Amor, a series of interviews with artists that is part of the Parallel Programme of Art Madrid'24.

IThe Internet presents creators with both a competitive advantage and a number of significant challenges in terms of exposure, performance, discovery, infringement and plagiarism. In 2007, this technology-based copyright registry was created so that Safe Creative could work with artists on the Internet to protect their rights. Today, with generative AI and NFTs, the challenges multiply and we respond to creators and artists of all kinds.

REGISTERING COPYRIGHTS IN THE INTERNET AGE

With the popularization of the Internet over the past 20 years, we have seen the needs of creators shift. We have moved from a limited and local creation and production to a global and massive one with immediate needs for protection and recognition. Registering copyrights in the Internet age must be equally fast, convenient and inexpensive. Safe Creative was born with the goal of providing technology as a tool to create the proofs the artists need before showing their work.

Safe Creative offers a convenient and cost-effective online system that allows any creator to obtain the necessary evidence to prove their copyrights from the comfort of their own home, using their own computer, and instantly register all their works.

THE COPYRIGHT REGISTRATION PROCESS IN THE CONTEXT OF ARTIDICIAL INTELLIGENCES

The need for authorship verification is more important than ever with the advent of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI). Registration in the context of AI is critical for two main reasons:

CERTIFY THE CREATIVE PROCESS

The first has to do with the future need for artists to be able to prove that they, and not a Generative Artificial Intelligence, created a particular work: We are only seeing the beginning of Generative Artificial Intelligences, and they will continue to improve over time. Being able to certify the creative process using Safe Creative will be critical to document that the work was, in fact, created by a human.

REGISTRATION OF WORK TO AVOID PLAGIARISM

Generative artificial intelligences are, in fact, fed by previous artistic creations. There is already controversy about the origin of the works that feed these algorithms, and some lawsuits have been filed, the outcome of which will be seen in the coming months and years. This is because they often use works not only from the public domain, but also from contemporary creators and artists, allegedly in violation of their rights.

Registering the work to defend against plagiarism provides an element to use in case it is used by one or more artificial intelligences in the future. Logically, informing of the fact of registration when the work is presented helps to deter traditional plagiarism by people who directly copy the work of other artists, and it helps to defend the copyright if the work is eventually used without the express authorization of the creator or owner.

ONLINE EXHIBITION AND SALE OF WORKS

Promoting yourself on the Internet and social networks is here to stay. Getting a name, setting up an online gallery, or combining physical presence in galleries and online are not questions of whether to do it, but how to do it as soon as possible and in the best possible way.

CONCLUSIONS

By law, rights exist when the work is created, and technological registers are the best tool to demonstrate the existence of these rights quickly and immediately, permanently and worldwide.

The artist can certify his creative process, register the work, show the work with its registration to discourage plagiarism and now also exhibit, sell and license his work. Each creator can use the tool as they wish and in combination with a physical presence in all types of galleries, whether virtual or physical, with the greatest security that technology can offer today worldwide.

From July 7 to 9, 2025, the Balsera Palace will host the First Course on Collecting and Contemporary Art, an intensive 15-hour program that will explore the complex and fundamental question of taste in contemporary art. Organized by the Nebrija Institute of Arts and Humanities at Nebrija University and the Avilés City Council, in collaboration with 9915 — Association of Private Collectors of Contemporary Art and the Institute of Contemporary Art, the course offers a unique opportunity for analysis and debate on the dynamics that shape aesthetic and symbolic value in today’s art scene.

First Course on Collecting and Contemporary Art. Avilés, Asturias

The notion of taste, intrinsically tied to aesthetic judgments and power relations, has played a decisive role in the historical prominence of artists and artworks. However, contemporary art—marked by its breaking of conventions, diversity of media and techniques, and critical stance toward traditional canons—raises fundamental questions about the continued relevance of this concept.

This course will explore how the decisions made by key players in the art system—institutions, private collections, galleries, curators, and artists—continually redefine a field of taste shaped by aesthetic, symbolic, cultural, social, and political logics.

"¿But does it exist, and what is the prevailing taste of our time—so seemingly confused, fragmented, indecipherable?" - Omar Calabrese, The Neo-Baroque Era.

The academic program, directed by José Luis Guijarro Alonso, Director of the Master’s in Art Market and Related Business Management at Nebrija University, and Pablo Álvarez de Toledo, Head of the Department of Arts at Nebrija University and the Nebrija Institute of Arts and Humanities, will bring together a distinguished group of national experts—including collectors, critics, curators, gallery owners, and artists—whose contributions will address key issues in shaping aesthetic, symbolic, and market value in today’s art world.

PROGRAM

MONDAY, JULY 7

9:30 AM Registration.

10:00 AM Course Opening Nebrija University Avilés City Council Presented by Rosario López Meras – President of the Association of Contemporary Art Collectors, 9915, and Adrián Piera – President of the ICA, Institute of Contemporary Art.

10:30 AM Course Presentation By José Luis Guijarro Alonso – Art Historian and Anthropologist, Researcher, and Director of the Master’s in Art Market and Related Business Management at Nebrija University.

11:00 AM Coffee Break.

11:30 AM Panel Discussion The Taste of Private Collecting as a Prelude to History. Speakers: Candela Álvarez Soldevilla – Entrepreneur and Collector; Javier Quilis – INELCOM Collection; José Miguel Vegas Valle – Collector. Moderator: Luis Feás – Critic and Curator.

1:00 PM Lunch Break.

3:30 PM Individual Lecture On Good Taste in Contemporary Art. Speaker: Marisol Salanova – Curator and Art Critic, Director of Arteinformado.

4:45 PM Panel Discussion The Influence of Galleries in Shaping Contemporary Taste. Speakers: Elba Benítez – Gallerist; Ricardo Pernas – Gallerist (Arniches 26); Aurora Vigil-Escalera – Gallerist. Moderator: Rafael Martín – Coleccion@casamer.

6:00 PM End of Day.

6:30 PM Activity and Cocktail Visit to the Exhibition Asturian Artists in the Pérez Simón Collection – Avilés.

TUESDAY, JULY 8

10:00 AM Individual Lecture Contemporary (Bad) Taste: Kitsch, Camp, and Tacky. Speaker: Julio Pérez Manzanares – Autonomous University of Madrid.

11:00 AM Coffee Break.

11:30 AM Panel Discussion Institutions and the Formation of Contemporary Taste. Speakers: Virginia López – Artist, Founder of PACA_Proyectos Artísticos Casa Antonino; Julieta de Haro – Artistic Director of CentroCentro; Carlos Urroz – Director of Institutional Relations, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía. Moderator: Laura Gutiérrez – Director, School of Art of Oviedo.

1:00 PM Lunch Break.

3:30 PM Panel Discussion Beyond the Eye: The Taste for Ethical, Ecological, Social, or Political Concerns in Contemporary Art. Speakers: Semíramis González – Independent Curator; Eugenio Ampudia – Artist; Claudia Rodríguez-Ponga – Independent Curator. Moderator: Bárbara Mur Borrás – PhD in Fine Arts.

5:00 PM End of Day.

5:30 PM Activity Visit to the Studiolo Exhibition – Candela Álvarez Soldevilla Collection.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 9

9:30 AM Meeting with Asturian Artists Speakers: María Castellanos – Artist; Avelino Sala – Artist; Consuelo Vallina – Artist. Moderator: Pablo Álvarez de Toledo – Nebrija University.

11:00 AM Activity Visit to the Niemeyer Center – Avilés.

Course Closing Ceremony.

This course is designed for art professionals, collectors, researchers, and students seeking an in-depth analysis of the dynamics that shape taste and collecting practices in contemporary art. Adopting a critical and multidisciplinary perspective, it provides a unique opportunity to rigorously examine the aesthetic, symbolic, and structural factors that underpin the legitimization of contemporary art.