Copy and appropriation of archival or/and found materials have long been an integral part of practices of collage, remix, and sample. Those methods are still a puzzling source of anxiety caused by copyright law.

The aim of this research is to recognise that the artistic practice of copy and appropriation of visual, literary, and musical works protected by copyright requires urgent attention, evaluation, and adjustment to safeguard the contemporary, digital, and post-digital landscape in which artists live and thrive.

This research is divided into two areas respectively concerned with two questions. The first question, “To what extent the use of copy and appropriation can be considered as a (moral or legal) right of an artist?” evaluated in Chapter One focuses on the meaning of authorship and its legal, moral, and philosophical implications. The second question: “How can relationships between past and present be represented and interrogated through a creative process that is informed by past methodologies and theories and determined by the possibilities offered in a post-digital age?” delineated in Chapter Two investigates the concept of artistic freedom to copy and appropriate. The practical part includes recordings of audiovisual compositions, documentation of which is available online. The collection includes the title work L’Apparition, the culmination of this theoretical and practical research. Compositional methodology is described in Chapter Three, and examples of work leading to the premiere of L’Apparition are presented in Chapter Four.

This thesis proposes a remodelling of outdated perceptions of authorship and the inconsistent rule of copyright law. It also recommends a plan of action for artists and academics to pave a new way to collaborative and creative approaches based on the ethos of Open Source and Open Access materials. Finally, this research calls for the protection of artistic freedoms expressed in the form of a manifesto; its aim is to start a dialogue leading to reforms of copyright law in accordance with the reality of contemporary art.