In May, France’s national railroad, the SNCF (or Société nationale des chemins de fer français), put out an open call for artists to propose temporary projects for 16 of its properties that are disused or currently awaiting renovation. At first glance, the request for proposals looked very appealing, the photogenically decrepit spaces scattered all over the country just begging for big murals, dramatic performances, site-specific installations, and other artful interventions. There’s the charming abandoned train station in Marignac in the south, the 18,000-square-foot “train cathedral” in Paris’s Saint-Denis suburb, or the vaguely medieval water tower in Tionville in the northeast. All seem ripe for creative reuse.

But it didn’t take long for artists to notice the crooked terms of the SNCF’s offer: chosen artists will not only receive no payment for their proposals or to help cover the costs of their projects, but they will have to renounce any rights to the works the create, and must accept that they may be forced to stop their projects or destroy them at any time, without receiving any compensation or damages. In sum, the SNCF is asking artists activate and beautify its derelict properties for free, while reserving the right to exploit the resulting cultural cachet without compensating them.