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Heri Dono speaks about installations and mixed media
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Hi, my name is Heri Dono.

I'm an artist from Indonesia.

I work a lot with installations and mixed media.

I combine different elements such as objects, sound, light, video, movement or materials to create an experience for people as they walk through the space.

In works like this, the meaning doesn't usually come from one object alone.

It comes from how all the elements work together.

This raises some interesting questions.

What then is the artwork?

Is it the objects?

The installation itself?

Or the experience it creates for the audience?

In copyright, individual parts of an installation such as sculptures, videos, or small objects can sometimes be protected on their own.

But the way all the elements are selected and arranged together, the whole installation may also be protected as an artistic work.

Installations are often temporary or made for a specific location.

So it's important to document your work.

Write things down, take photos, keep videos, sketches and notes.

This will help preserve your work and if there is ever a problem, show how it was created.

Have a look at our content page on Installations and Mixed Media to learn more about these questions and how you can better protect and document your work.

Installation and Mixed Media

3 min read

Installations and mixed media works transform spaces into experiences built from many different elements.

From a copyright perspective, both the individual elements and the work as a whole must be considered.

Unlike paintings or sculptures that exist as single objects, installations are compositions in space, in which meaning emerges from the relationship between the elements and the environment. They combine diverse elements such as objects, light, sound, video, or movement to engage viewers from multiple senses and perspectives.

Ask yourself: What is the heart of your work – the objects, the space, or the experience it creates?

The whole and its parts

From a copyright perspective, installations and mixed media raise complex questions. The copyright law protects the expression of ideas once they are fixed in a tangible form, not the ideas or concepts themselves.

Each element, for instance, a sculpture, an object, a projection, or a visual component, may be protected on its own. At the same time, the installation as a whole can also be protected as a composite work, provided the artist’s creative arrangement and visual expression of the idea are clearly identifiable.

Copyright can therefore exist on two levels—in the individual elements of the artwork, and in the way these elements are arranged and expressed together. Copyright does not, however, extend to the underlying concept or idea itself.

Ask yourself: If someone recreated your installation with the same concept but entirely different materials and expression, would it still feel like your work?

Because installations are frequently temporary or site-specific, documentation plays a crucial role in protecting both artistic integrity and legal rights. Photographs, video recordings, sketches, and descriptive texts serve not only as a means of archiving the artwork for posterity, but also as evidence of authorship and originality in potential copyright disputes.

Read our Fixation and Production of Works topic to learn more.

Ask yourself: If someone recreated your installation with the same concept but entirely different materials and expression, would it still feel like your work?

Because installations are frequently temporary or site-specific, documentation plays a crucial role in protecting both artistic integrity and legal rights. Photographs, video recordings, sketches, and descriptive texts serve not only as a means of archiving the artwork for posterity, but also as evidence of authorship and originality in potential copyright disputes.

Read our Fixation and Production of Works topic to learn more.