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Review: Illegal Art
The reader continues:
The exhibit is of artwork on the legal fringes of intellectual property, litigation clouds loom over many of the pieces. (Buy now! This is a limited time offer! ;-) Even to an artistic ignoramus such as myself, it's clear the exhibit contains classic works of the genre. In this category are such items as the "Disneyland Memorial Orgy" (Poster, 1967) by the Mad Magazine artist Wally Wood, and the trademark certificate which certifies Professor Kembrew McLeod's ownership of the phrase "Freedom of Expression" (Conceptual, 1998). I also particularly enjoyed the finely detailed Spiderman quilt (Untitled) (Commercial fabric and recycled materials, 2002) by Ai Kijima and the counterfeit postage stamps, including "Prozac" (Computer generated laser print, 1996), of Michael Hernandez de Luna. De Luna creates stamps good enough to fool postal workers, as attested to by successfully delivered letters complete with postmarks. (Sorry, I cannot find any contact info for this Chicago artist on the web.)
An exhibition like this is innately political and nowhere is this more apparent than in the exhibition's video accompaniment, much of which is strongly anti-war and anti-corporate. Like the visual artwork, the borderline legality of the video work is due to its appropriation of corporate trademarks and sampling of copyrighted work. What makes it interesting as well as sometimes funny, regardless of your politics, is how the material reveals the manipulative techniques of everyday media and thereby turns the content against its owners. The very strength of the alternative message the videos present is often due to the strength of the original images.
Audio works are also included in the exhibit but I have not had the time to sample the wares.
Those who can't physically visit the exhibition in Chicago can experience many of the works via the Illegal Art web site. Video, audio, and visual art is available for download. A number of works have been added to the exhibit since it has come from New York. Images of the Chicago artists' work should be added to the web site as soon as the organizers get around to it. FWIW, rumor has the exhibit traveling to San Francisco.
This kind of stuff has been on the Internet for years but Disney seems to pretend it doesn't exist. Anyone ever hear of any lawsuits coming out of this sort of fan art/fiction (other than Star Trek, which has gotten a lot of press here :).
:)
(Note: I know the piece I am talking about is from the 60's, not implying it's unoriginal
Robots are everywhere, and they eat old people's medicine for fuel.
Corrected link free of karmic charge!
It says in the EULA that you can copy their site so long as you include the EULA in either an ice sculpture or smeared in mustard on the side of a white/ off-white van.
I don't know if Boggs is a Yank or a Brit, but he started with greenbacks and is best known for them. See his web page.
Q:How many libertarians does it take to stop a Panzer division? A:None. Obviously market forces will take care of it.
There actually are accepted methods for accounting for barter transactions.. check your tax publications if you're from the USA.
.. it pushes the boundaries, makes you think!
You'd just consider the "fair market value" of what you got and gave. If you can't establish the fair market value, come up with a defensible substitute (i.e., if the IRS examines your tax return) and use that. For instance in your case, you don't really know the market value of Flugelbucks, but you know the value of painting houses so you could approximate things.
I think the tax pubs give an example of trading artwork for something, in this case, the artwork would just happen to look a lot like currency!
That's why "art" like this so cool
Hmmm...perhaps if you'd take a moment to figure out why McLeod trademarked the phrase, you'd be able to make an informed commment on the subject.
McLeod, who was at the opening (I met him, chatted for a brief sec), trademarked the term and then named a zine "Freedom of Expression". He then got a buddy of his to start a punk zine also called "Freedom of Expression" and then sued his friend, hiring a lawyer whom he didn't let in on the gag. The whole point of the exercise was to show the ridiculousness of trademark. As McLeod said himself, "Freedom of Expression is not for sale." The entire suit was an exercise in analyzing culture and property rights.
He's also suing AT&T over the use of the phrase in an ad campaign they're running.
Amazingly enough, all of this information was readily available from the links in the story. Who knew?
My other computer is your Windows box
Seems legal to these folks:
Ithaca Hours
It's 10 PM. Do you know if you're un-American?
Steinski is perhaps better known for another piece of illegal art, his remixes of "Hey Mr. DJ, Play That Beat" aka "The Payoff Mix" aka Lesson 1, followed by two further Lessons, as well as "The Motorcade Sped On", an exposition on the Kennedy assassination.
The U2 song is readily available from Negativland's website.
hi, we've put together a package of articles to coincide with the show. here's some links:
AN UPHILL BATTLE: INTERVIEW WITH LAWRENCE LESSIG
Stanford Law School professor Lawrence Lessig is the nation's leading advocate for intellectual property law reform; we interview him about the state of the movement.
THE PIRATES OF HOLLYWOOD
The language of film may be universal, but don't tell that to the Motion Picture Association of America--you might end up in court.
MUSIC FOR THE MASSES
When Lester Chambers stepped onto the stage to galvanize the audience with "People Get Ready," his band included one guy who looked like he might be from the IRS. But he wasn't. He was there from the Federal Communications Commission.
FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
The power of corporations to censor was greatly expanded by the passage in 1998 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which was written by and for the lobbies that paid to push it through Congress--the software, entertainment, pharmaceutical and other intellectual property industries.