Copenhagen (AFP)
The Danish court on Wednesday sentenced a Volkswagen dealership to pay more than 230,000 euros to Chinese artist Ai Weiwei for using one of his works for advertising purposes without prior authorization.
"The use of the work by SMC (the dealer) is a violation (...) of good marketing practices set out in the law on advertising," said in a statement the court of Glostrup, in the suburbs of Copenhagen .
In 2017, in his diary and on his web page, SMC had used a photo of a new Polo model parked in front of an installation of Ai Weiwei in Copenhagen.
To produce his work, entitled "Soleil Levant", the 61-year-old dissident artist had deposited in the museum's windows in Charlottenborg 3,500 lifejackets of migrants who arrived in Lesbos between 2015 and 2016.
"The commercial exploitation of Ai Weiwei's work was in blatant contradiction with the considerations and ideas underlying the work," the court said, noting that this misuse could be harmful to reputation. of the artist.
SMC is ordered to pay 1.5 million kroner (200,000 euros) for fraudulent use, to which is added 250,000 crowns of damages.
The artist, at the same time painter, sculptor and visual artist, had announced in March to make complaint in an Instagram post.
"The wrong material was distributed to more than 200,000 people, giving the false impression that I had authorized Volkswagen to use my work in its advertising for the new Polo," he had insurgent on the social network.
Son of a poet revered by former communist leaders, Ai Weiwei had participated as an architect in the design of the famous "Bird's Nest" stadium for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, but had fallen out of favor for his critics of the scheme.
Imprisoned 81 days in 2011 in China, he had also been deprived of a passport for four years. He lives since 2015 in Europe.
© 2019 AFP