Can an Artwork Have Personhood? Exploring the Limits of Legal and Artistic Personhood

The article examines how contemporary artists are probing the boundaries between human and nonhuman personhood, a question that has gained urgency since the US Supreme Court's Citizens United decision (2010) extended free speech rights to corporations. The author recounts visiting Pierre Huyghe's exhibition "Liminal" (2024) at the Pinault Collection in Venice, where a performer disguised as a statue shocked visitors by being a real person. Huyghe's work, along with pieces by Nina Katchadourian (featuring caterpillars and spiders as collaborators) and Marge Monko (eavesdropping on smart assistants in "romantic conversation"), challenges viewers to consider whether nonhumans can have personhood. The article also discusses Ai-Da, a social robot built by Aidan Meller and Lucy Seal, whose algorithmic paintings—including a portrait of Alan Turing sold at Sotheby's for $1.1 million in 2024—are marketed as if the machine were a real artist. The author references philosopher Stanley Cavell's idea that we treat art objects as persons, and art critic Michael Fried's warning about Minimalist art's "surrogate personhood." The piece concludes by promoting the author's new book, "The Problem of Personhood: Giving Rights to Trees, Corporations, and Robots" (2026), arguing that expanding legal personhood to nonhumans is misguided and ultimately harmful.