In any artwork, “We see it as the end product of an author’s effort to arrange a sequence of communicative effects in such a way that each individual addressee can refashion the original composition devised by the author.” The advantages are many. It suggests, emotes, stimulates, provokes, questions, enlightens and most importantly engages the addressee in interplay with the work. “A work of art is a complete and closed form in its uniqueness as a balanced organic whole. While at the same time constituting an open product on account of its susceptibility to countless different interpretations which do not impinge on its unadulterable specificity.” Zen garden is the epitome of “open content” or “open source”. It devises no solutions, yet invites contemplation. The infinite poetic emptiness is at the very core of the finite placement and composition of trees, rocks and sand. It is a living landscape transforming through the seasons; a manifestation of the cyclic existence of all things as is in perfection.
For the contemporary artist, “openness” is and should be fundamental to remix culture in general and the consumer culture at large. We create; consume and recreate or remix. The cycle goes on endlessly generation after generation, and it is the essential process of culture making. Culture is inherently public domain; it cannot be bought or traded like commodity. It is an ever-evolving entity that anyone can claim as their own yet can never be owned. It is therefore in our best interest to restrict rights to its ownership. Remix culture at its best is operated on an honor system. It requires integrity, and honesty. While rules and restrictions are well intended, they are enforced to regulate the few rotten apples that spoil the bunch. More importantly, they are blindly enforced to ensure the profits reaped from cultural icons, i.e. Mickey Mouse. From an article published by Techdirt, “Last week, we reported on Rep. Zoe Lofgren's statement that copyright law has become equal to the life of Mickey Mouse…Mickey and Disney have been huge drivers of this attempt to stifle new culture, all in the name of limiting competition for itself. What a shame.” Has anyone challenged Disney for their convenient “copyleft” use of fairy tales collected from a variety of sources by which they have built their fantasy empire on “happily ever after?”
Copyright in cyberspace?
From a material space where tangible properties such as books, paintings, sculptures and music scores are abundant and heavily regulated by copyright laws, it is still much easier to regulate those than to control the intangible free flow of information that is happening at the speed of lightening in cyberspace. Much falls through the cracks of virtual space. The sensible people, well educated in some of the best universities in the country are promoting extreme regulations for creators of the cyberspace. Lawrence Lessig, professor of law and co-founder of Creative Commons challenges, “While writers with words have had the freedom to quote since time immemorial, “writers” with digital technology have not yet earned this right… There’s a copyright war going on in cyberspace. The peer-to-peer sharing is the enemy and the creators are the collateral damage.” Creativity will go on with or without copyright law enforcement. Each generation is inspired to create with the tools of its time, and will create in ways outside of the previous generation’s wildest imagination. “It should be encouraged and “properly balanced” writes Lessig, a difficult task to advocate however. Copyright, in Lessig’s view, is the most inefficient property system known to men. It is triggered every time there is a copy, and by default, every use of a creative work produces a “copy” in the digital world. Enforcing copyright law in cyberspace is as ridiculous as regulating breathing. So why do we enforce copyright law? It all boils down to begetting profit from creative endeavors. It is profit gaining not profit sharing in a consumer culture within the capitalistic state of mind. However, this is not to suggest any other state of mind would be problem free.
What about an artist's labor?
Photographer Hank Willis Thomas claims that he never learned to paint or draw. He humbly says, “All I could do was take pictures.” When he was working on his project, “Unbranded” and did a lot of retouching, but had to hire a retoucher when crunch time came. He remarks, “I encountered this conundrum where, for the first time, I was making this whole series of work that I didn’t make. That was really a scar on my photographer’s ego to be using other people’s photographs to make my art… The art in it was to recognize that by removing the branding from the image, that you could recognize what was really being sold. That’s why I say truth is better than fiction, because I didn’t own it.” He admits that his ego was scared; he was honest to give credit to the people who worked in collaboration with him to bring a vision to fruition where the result is raising awareness in the general public. As the cliché goes, “No man is an island,” he is often in the role of an art director, brainstorming, and transforming ideas with people in the corporate commerce who are not necessarily artists, collaborating in the process of making art for the sake of art, “Hank Willis Thomas’s vision”, that may or may not sell, yet it is making social commentary and is beyond commerce value. His art occupies a space that is neither commerce nor industry, yet by appropriating from both, his work is contemporary, and relevant.
His photographic series, B®ANDED, investigates the social and cultural ambiguity underlying the African American male, experiencing corporate exploitation, making apparent the tension between commodity and race. He remixes familiar consumer products and images, reconfigures to question social conscience and awareness on issues that plagues our contemporary society. The photograph taken at the funeral of his cousin, age 27, killed in a senseless petty robbery combined with text appropriated from a MasterCard ad campaign, Priceless #1, is poignant and heartfelt.
Remixed example: Jazz
I have always enjoyed looking at the motifs of Henri Matisse. They are bold, vibrant, whimsical, and full of spirit. So, working on an animation using the cutout and silhouette method, I had the idea of combining some of my lithographic prints as backdrops and bringing Matisse’s cutouts to life. It is an obvious appropriation, yet, viewed from a different perspective with the addition of sound and movement.
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