About the Exhibition

Good artists copy, great artists wait for works to enter the public domain.

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 Virginia 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.

This exhibition takes place in the NYU Bobst Library Gallery from October 22,2025-December 22, 2025. It is curated by Giana Ricci, Librarian for the Fine Arts and Head of the Arts, Performance, and Humanistic Inquiry Department at Bobst Library.