"Is is Art Yet? And Who Decides?"

In the case of Christoph Buchel's incompleted "Training Ground for Democracy" I don't think it is art yet. I agree with Roberta Smith completely when she says that part of an artists freedom is "the right to say, ' This is not a work of art unless I say so'." This is because whether it is paid for by the artist or the museum, whether it is made by the artist or the artist and a group of workers, it is still the artist's original ideas. Ideas are property just like anything else these days and that is especially important to an artist.
I hope that the museum in question learns its lesson from this experience. They requested Buchel's work. Whether or not it exceeded the budget is beside the point; it is Buchels art and they do not have the right to do anything with it until he gives them permission.