Latest news with #plagiarism
South China Morning Post
a day ago
- General
- South China Morning Post
Chinese county admits plagiarism after web users flag data filed by another 400km away
A county government in southern China has confirmed plagiarism in an official document and pledged to 'promptly correct' the offending sections in a rare admission of such misconduct. This came after internet users flagged information almost identical to that filed by another county about 400km (250 miles) away in a neighbouring province. In a news release on Tuesday, the government of Pingle county in Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region said it had detected plagiarism in 'a limited number of paragraphs' in its 2023-2030 forest fire prevention plan. Authorities checked the document after media reports of suspected plagiarism and found the claim was 'essentially true', the county government said on its official social media page. 'We'll promptly correct and reissue the document, strengthening review of official documentation,' it said. Web users reported the suspected plagiarism after finding that descriptions and data used in a Pingle hydrology report were nearly identical to those for Anhua county in Hunan province next door, according to official news platform Jiupai News. The Pingle bureau collaborated with a third-party company in preparing the document, and the hydrological data involved was provided by the contractor, Jiupai News reported, citing an unidentified county official involved in producing the plan.
Times
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Times
Damien Hirst and plagiarism: ‘All my ideas are stolen anyway'
The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary defines the verb to plagiarise as follows: '1 v.t. Take and use as one's own (the thoughts, writings, inventions, etc., of another person); copy (literary work, ideas, etc.) improperly or without acknowledgement; pass off the thoughts, work, etc., of (another person) as one's own. 2 v.i. Practise or commit plagiarism.' Damien Hirst, who has been accused, not for the first time, of pinching the idea for his best work, A Thousand Years (1990) — the one with the cow's head, the maggots and the insect-o-cutor in a vitrine — from his Goldsmiths contemporary Hamad Butt, is probably used to it by now. Indeed, in 2018 he stated in a filmed interview with fellow artist Peter Blake, 'All my ideas are stolen anyway,' claiming that he was told by his tutor Michael Craig-Martin, 'Don't borrow ideas, steal them' (possibly Craig-Martin had Picasso's famous adage in mind: 'Good artists copy, great artists steal'). That, Hirst said, was when he realised 'you don't have to be original' — and Blake agreed. 'Nothing is original — it's what you do with it.' Still, Butt's Transmission, which is about to go on show at the Whitechapel Gallery in London as part of Apprehensions, the first big survey exhibition of his work, does indeed have remarkable similarities in its ideas and execution to Hirst's work. Shown at Butt's degree show, also in 1990, but developed earlier in prototype in his studio (and seen there, claimed Butt, by Hirst, who overlapped with him at Goldsmiths for two years), it was a multipart work, one element of which was Fly-Piece, a cabinet containing sugar-soaked paper inscribed with enigmatic statements, and fly pupae, which hatched, digested the paper and then died. • Damien Hirst at 60: My plan to make art for 200 years after I die It doesn't take a genius to see why Butt, who died of Aids-related complications in 1994 aged 32, felt Hirst had appropriated his work, and the critic Jean Fisher, who taught both artists, referred to Butt's 'clear influence on Hirst'. The Times approached Hirst for comment. But this is just one of many times Hirst has been accused of plagiarism, which in art is notoriously difficult to prove. In 2010 Charles Thomson, founder of the stuckists, collated a list of 15 examples for Jackdaw Magazine. Some were supported by the artists in question, such as the Los Angeles artist Lori Precious, who said she went into 'a state of shock' after seeing Hirst's butterfly works and noting their resemblance to her mandala works made of butterflies. (Hirst has never publicly acknowledged Precious's remarks, which were not made through legal representation, and told Blake that he got the idea from Victorian tea trays.) Some were Thomson's assertion, such as the similarity between Hirst's early medicine cabinet works and Joseph Cornell's 1943 sculpture Pharmacy. Hirst's press officer at the time described the article as 'poor journalism' and said they would be issuing a 'comprehensive rebuttal'. If this exists, I can't find it. John LeKay, once a good friend of Hirst's, has claimed the artist has repurposed a number of his ideas, including skulls covered in crystals, which LeKay first experimented with in 1993, and has intimated that Hirst's In the Name of the Father, 2005, which featured the corpse of a sheep splayed to resemble a crucifixion pose, was probably inspired by his own 1987 work This Is My Body, This Is My Blood, which does the same thing but without preserving it in formaldehyde. • 25 moments that made Tate Modern — seeds, spiders and sharks LeKay also claimed that Hirst got the ideas for his pickled animal works from a catalogue LeKay lent him, for the Carolina Biological Supply Company, which sold science education products (which is a perfectly reasonable and valid place to get ideas — they don't usually just come out of thin air). Hirst declined to comment on the claims. He did agree, in 2000, to pay an undisclosed sum, out of court, to two children's charities when Humbrol took umbrage at his large-scale bronze sculpture Hymn, describing it as a direct copy of the company's Young Scientist Anatomy Set, designed by Norman Emms (apparently Hirst's young son had one). Mostly, though, claims have gone unanswered. In 2017 Jason deCaires Taylor claimed there were 'striking similarities' between his underwater sculptural installations, which he has been making since 2006, and the works that made up Hirst's Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable, exhibited at that year's Venice Biennale. Hirst denied that he had breached copyright and a spokeswoman said he had been interested in 'coralised' objects since the 1990s. In 2022 he exhibited a suite of paintings of cherry blossom at the Fondation Cartier in Paris, which depicted dark branches against a pale blue sky, with petals made of dots. The English artist and writer Joe Machine told a newspaper that he thought when he saw them that he was looking at his own earlier paintings. (A stretch, to be honest. Stylistically they're not particularly similar and it's not as if artists haven't been painting cherry blossoms for centuries. To me, they just look like Hirst has rather savvily combined his dot motif with a tried-and-tested subject matter to appeal to the large east Asian market.) • Read more art reviews, guides and interviews The fact is you cannot copyright an idea. It's true that Thomas Downing was doing spot paintings in the Sixties. So did John Armeleder in the Eighties. Part of the fury around Hirst's alleged appropriation of ideas is that he's made so much more money out of them than anyone else — his success has created its own market, regardless of the quality of the work, which is variable to say the least. I doubt this latest, repeated accusation will make the slightest difference to Hirst's reputation. People know what they're getting with him, and Butt's Transmission, which the Whitechapel will show with the insect component remade for the first time since his degree show (Butt reportedly destroyed Fly-Piece after Hirst's work was shown) is likely to remain a frustrating footnote in art history. And as Dominic Johnson, curator of the exhibition, carefully remarks in the catalogue: 'It's always interesting to consider how and where artists get ideas from especially when working in shared spaces or contexts (as was the case for so many of the YBAs and their peers), as there is inevitably always going to be a degree of cross-pollination — conscious or unconscious.' Still, Picasso's pithy soundbite doesn't mean that stealing makes you a great artist. Mediocre artists steal too. And maybe the suggestion that A Thousand Years, in my opinion Hirst's finest work (he made it aged 25; he's 60 now and nothing he's done since has been as good, not even the shark), was heavily reliant on someone else's idea might, on darker nights, give Hirst a moment's pause.
Telegraph
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Damien Hirst accused of plagiarism in breakthrough artwork
Damien Hirst is embroiled in a plagiarism row after being accused of stealing the idea of using live flies in his breakthrough work from a fellow artist. Hamad Butt, a classmate of Hirst at Goldsmiths university in south London, displayed Fly-Piece, consisting of live flies in a vitrine, at his degree show in June 1990. A month later, Hirst reportedly unveiled A Thousand Years, a glass case full of live flies feeding on a cow's head, which elevated him to worldwide acclaim. Butt, meanwhile, Butt died in 1994 aged 32 after developing Aids, and having failed to break through into the art world. Dominic Johnson, a curator who has overseen a new exhibition of Butt's work at the Whitechapel Gallery in east London, claimed A Thousand Years 'appears to have directly appropriated from Butt'. Mr Johnson, a professor of performance and visual culture at Queen Mary University, London, claimed Hirst 'likely encountered Butt's piece first-hand in its development' as Butt had produced a prototype in his studio in 1989. It is claimed that Hirst displayed A Thousand Years at his exhibition Gambler which opened in July 1990. Butt felt that Hirst had appropriated his idea and 'was unhappy when Hirst's sculpture received greater acclaim', Mr Johnson wrote in the exhibition's catalogue, according to The Times. 'Whether the appropriation was direct or not, Butt chose to withdraw the Fly-Piece from his subsequent installation [in November 1990],' he added. Butt's original artwork, which has since been lost, has been recreated for the exhibition. Hirst continued to produce bio-art, most notably animals preserved in formaldehyde, including a dove, a pair of calves, and a shark dissected into three pieces. He dominated the British art world for two decades and has been reported to be the world's richest artist, with an estimated net worth of more than £300 million. The Turner Prize-winning artist's career has been dogged by allegations of plagiarism. In 2010, an art magazine published an article accusing Hirst of producing 15 works 'inspired by others' including his work Pharmacy. Charles Thomson, an artist and co-founder of Stuckists, a group which campaigns against conceptual art, tallied the number of plagiarism claims relating to Hirst's work in Jackdaw magazine. In 2007, former friend John LeKay claimed Hirst's diamond skull For the Love of God was based on his own crystal skulls made in 1993 Although Hirst has faced allegations that some of his works were the ideas of others, copyright does not protect ideas, only a specific form of expression. In 2000, it was disclosed that Hirst had paid an undisclosed sum to prevent legal action for breach of copyright by designers of a toy which resembled his famous bronze sculpture, Hymn. Hirst, 60, has always denied allegations of plagiarism but admitted in a 2018 interview that 'all my ideas are stolen'.
Reuters
6 days ago
- Politics
- Reuters
Postponed vote on top judge pitches German coalition into crisis
BERLIN, July 11 (Reuters) - A planned vote on appointing three new judges to Germany's Constitutional Court was shelved on Friday, as conservative Chancellor Friedrich Merz's coalition struggled to muster a parliamentary majority for the second time in three months. Other parties, including his Social Democrat coalition partners, charged the Christian Democrats with bringing Germany's highest court into disrepute and using spurious plagiarism allegations as a pretext for shelving a vote the coalition would not have won. The conservatives had initially sought to postpone a vote only on appointing Frauke Brosius-Gersdorf, a law professor and the Social Democrats' nominee, who was opposed by many conservatives because of her support for abortion rights. "I never imagined we'd see debates in our country reminiscent of those on appointing justices to the United States Supreme Court," the SPD's Dirk Wiese told parliament. "The kind of witch hunt we've seen against a distinguished law professor this week should make us fear for the state of democracy in our country," he added. The failure to muster a majority is an embarrassment for Merz and for his ally Jens Spahn, the conservatives' parliamentary leader, whose job it is to ensure his legislators toe the coalition line - something he had been confident of achieving as recently as Monday. The conservatives blamed their volte-face on allegations published on Thursday evening by Stefan Weber, a self-proclaimed "plagiarism hunter" who has claimed a string of politicians' scalps despite widespread doubts over his methods. Brosius-Gersdorf did not immediately respond to an e-mailed request for a comment on Weber's allegations, which appeared to accuse her of plagiarising footnotes in her thesis from one published after her own. "This man brings plagiarism charges against half the republic," said the Green's Britta Hasselmann, calling the conservatives' decision a disaster that would harm the court's reputation. Weber later backtracked, telling the Sueddeutsche Zeitung that he had merely flagged "possible unethical authorship" and had not accused Brosius-Gersdorf of plagiarism. The Constitutional Court is one of Germany's most respected and powerful institutions. Its decision to overturn a budget helped trigger the collapse of the last government. While judges often have open party affiliations, public disagreements over topical cultural issues are rare. Its members speak with pride about its political neutrality, frequently comparing it favourably with the U.S. Supreme Court.
ABC News
6 days ago
- ABC News
Murdoch University student fights accusation of illegal AI use in assignment
Mark McLauchlin is close to completing his nursing degree at Perth's Murdoch University, but an incident involving one assignment has "challenged his integrity in every way" and landed him in a protracted fight with the university's administration. In April, he was told a workbook he handed in had raised concerns. Excerpt from an email sent to Mr McLauchlin on April 3, 2025: "Data collected from sources such as Turnitin, in conjunction with academic insights from our experienced marking team, have led to the submission being deemed high risk for academic misconduct. These concerns relate to the potential use of artificial intelligence in the generation of your work, plagiarism, and/or collusion." A few days later, he was told an analysis of his work showed low editing time, evidence of chunks of text being cut and pasted into the document, and unusual formatting. Mr McLauchlin insists he has not cheated and the reason his assignment metadata shows evidence of "chunks of text being cut and paste" is because he used a grammar checking software, Grammarly, approved by the university. "I've been open and honest, right from the very first accusation, however the AI component of Grammarly was turned off," he said. "The tool is widely advertised and encouraged by the university for students to use to help them with their studies." The university conducted its own investigation and concluded that, on the balance of probabilities, Mr McLauchlin had used AI for part of his assignment. It also noted he had successfully completed nine units of his course and had no record of previous misconduct. It decided Mr McLauchlin would receive only 70 per cent of the marks allocated to his workbook. He said while he had enough marks from other assignments to pass the unit — even with the reduced mark from the workbook — and was on track to complete the degree this year, he was not willing to let the matter go. "I guess my overall issue is that, still to date, Murdoch can't give me a word, sentence, paragraph, phrase or a pattern of AI [in my assignment]," Mr McLauchlin said. "I haven't used AI in the way that they believe that I've used AI. In a written statement, Murdoch University said it could not comment on Mr McLauchlin's case for privacy reasons, but all students were "required to complete an academic integrity module that includes instruction on the appropriate and inappropriate use of AI". "Where the use of generative AI in assessments is indicated, the university takes a considered and educative approach under established academic integrity processes," the statement read. "Our first priority is to support students in understanding appropriate academic practices. "Where concerns arise, our processes are designed to be fair, transparent and proportionate, with education and engagement prioritised before any punitive measures are considered." The issue of AI detection is playing out on campuses around Australia, as universities and students grapple with the widespread availability of generative AI programs like ChatGPT. Students are also increasingly worried about accusations, with some students choosing to run their assignments through checkers before handing them in, to make sure programs that check for plagiarism, like Turnitin, do not falsely accuse them of not doing original work. One student told ABC Radio Perth she and her peers were now taking pre-emptive action against accusations of cheating. Dale, a recently retired TAFE teacher, said the practice of using AI to complete assignments was widespread. "I found students used AI to write assignments, but actually had little knowledge of the subject," he said. "The machine has done the work, [the] student has no inherent knowledge." Mr McLauchlin said his latest appeal of the university's decision had failed, and he was now seeking legal advice on where he could go from here. He said it was not just about clearing his name, but about making a point to the university about its processes, which he said were impersonal and had not allowed him to fully make his case. "That's the other reason why I'm kind of really going for this … I really believe that they're not 100 per cent informed of the impact of what they do, and how that can have [an affect] on people," he said. Murdoch University said it welcomed "appeals and constructive feedback on our administrative processes" and was "committed to continuous improvement".
