Recyclart has last laugh in photography project name dispute

Popular Brussels culture centre Recyclart has changed the name of its photography project following a legal complaint filed by Charleroi’s Musée de la Photographie. From now on, Recyclart’s project will be called Fusée de la Motographie.

The cheeky new title follows exhibitions staged in Brussels and Ghent under the previous name, Le Musée de la Photographie de Bruxelles. The Charleroi museum didn’t want Recyclart using the same name and sued them, demanding €500 every time the name was used in print or online.

The name change, said Recyclart in a statement, “in no way suggests that we agree with the demands or the claims made by Charleroi’s Museum of Photography. Recyclart finds that we should be allowed to use the name Museum of Photography. But we have neither the financial means nor the desire to fight it in court.”

Recyclart finds Charleroi’s complain ironic considering that their project is all about introducing photographers and their work to the public.

Its new title for the project transposes the first syllables of each word in the original title but also uses an ‘f’, signifying fusion. “The goal is to bring art to the street,” said Recyclart, “to underground spots but also to ‘venerable’ spaces because the photos are meant to be seen by as many people as possible.”