A note from t.whid:
perhaps of interest to the list
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From Wired News, available online at:
http://www.wired.com/news/print/0,1294,55592,00.html
Art: What's Original, Anyway?
By Kendra Mayfield
2:00 a.m. Oct. 10, 2002 PDT
If current copyright laws had been on the books when jazz musicians
were borrowing riffs from other artists in the 1930s and Looney Tunes illustrators were creating cartoons in the 1940s, entire art genres such as hip-hop, collage and Pop Art might never have existed.
The debate over whether artists can use copyrighted materials entered
the national spotlight this week as the Supreme Court heard opening arguments in Eldred v. Ashcroft, a case in which plaintiffs are seeking to overturn the <a href="http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d105:SN00505:
TOM:/bss/d105query.html">1998 Copyright Term Extension Act.
See also: -
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Free Speech Same as Free Content? -
Making Copy Right for All -
Setting Boundaries on Copyrights -
Discover more Net Culture -
Picture Yourself in Politics
To acknowledge this landmark case, an exhibit will celebrate
"degenerate art" in a corporate age: art and ideas on the fringes of intellectual property law.
The exhibit, Illegal Art: Freedom of Expression in the Corporate Age,
will take place in New York from Nov. 13 to Dec. 6 and in Chicago from Jan. 25 to Feb. 22.
"Almost all art, to a certain extent, is unoriginal," said Carrie
McLaren, publisher of Stay Free! magazine and organizer of the exhibit. "(In) an environment where you can have free exchange of ideas, you get better art."
The show will examine the intersection between intellectual property
and the First Amendment. Some pieces have been the focus of court battles, while others have eluded copyright lawyers.
Digital rights activists argue that creativity is under assault with
the recent passage of laws like the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
Current copyright laws discourage the creation of new works, McLaren
said. For example, filmmakers typically screen anything that appears on camera for copyright violations.
"That effectively makes filmmaking off limits for anyone who's not a
millionaire," McLaren said.
Some digital rights advocates believe that Eldred v. Ashcroft could
shift the balance of power.
"The fact that the Supreme Court is taking this case is a major
opportunity for this discussion," McLaren said. "It shows that the court is concerned about the First Amendment implications of copyright."
Timed with the exhibit's opening in November, a panel discussion at
New York University will focus on some of the aspects of using and archiving artworks that appropriate copyrighted or trademarked material.
"Understanding the sociopolitical implications of the current
copyright regime is of particular concern at this time," said Meg McLagan, an assistant professor of anthropology at NYU, "given the challenges posed by corporate attempts to limit access to works that should be moving into the public domain." McLagan is the panel's moderator.
Exhibit organizer McLaren hopes Illegal Art will "wake people up" to
restrictive copyright legislation. "When people see this exhibit they won't want to support the laws that make this type of work illegal," she said.
The exhibit surveys a variety of mediums – from collage to audio and
film – and includes pieces that flout intellectual property law by violating copyrights or infringing on trademarks.
The visual art exhibit, viewable online, features murdered Disney
characters, a parody of the Starbucks logo and a painting of a lace doily that incorporates the Texaco logo.
The exhibit's site also highlights illegal films and videos that
appropriate others' intellectual property through the use of found footage, unauthorized music, or shots of copyrighted or trademarked material.
Site visitors can also download illegal MP3s, including recycled
lyrics from 2 Live Crew's parody of Roy Orbison's "Oh, Pretty Woman" and Vanilla Ice's 1990 hit "Ice Ice Baby," which borrowed the main riff from David Bowie and Queen's song "Under Pressure."
The site includes links to audio works by experimental music and art
collective Negativland, longtime advocates of the concept of fair use since the group was forced to cease performing and distributing a parody of U2's "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" in 1995.
Since the early '90s, "these issues have become more and more
mainstream," said Mark Hosler, one of Negativland's founding members.
Groups like Negativland have felt the repercussions of the digital
copyright wars. In 1998, Negativland's CD manufacturer refused to press the band's latest album because of concerns over the inclusion of unlicensed samples.
"It really has impacted us very directly," Hosler said. "It seems like
the content owners don't care any more about what we're doing. But in terms of getting (CDs with samples) manufactured, that's the problem."
A compilation CD of music featuring plundered hits by Negativland,
Public Enemy, John Oswald and other artists will be given away free at Illegal Art events in New York and Chicago.
The free CD, which includes several tracks that were sued out of
existence, could create some legal entanglements of its own.
But the exhibit's organizers insist that its material is fair game.
"Since we're criticizing and educating about this, we think it falls
under fair use," McLaren said. "We wanted to have more discussion and debate about this. We're not just throwing this stuff out there."
Related Wired Links:
Fencing Off the Public Domain
Oct. 9, 2002
Free Speech Same as Free Content?
Oct. 8, 2002
Music Biz Lament: Stealing Hurts
Sep. 26, 2002
Every Montage Tells Another Story
June 27, 2002
Making Copy Right for All
May 17, 2002
Setting Boundaries on Copyrights
Feb. 20, 2002
Why Copyright Laws Hurt Culture
Nov. 27, 2001
Where Everything Is Negativland
May 9, 2000
Open Source in Open Court
April 26, 1999
A Mickey Mouse Copyright Law?
Jan. 13, 1999
Samples Silence Negativland
Sep. 1, 1998
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Wired News :Art: What's Original, Anyway?
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