Illegal Art

Freedom of Expression in the Corporate Age. This is an exhibit and website flaunting copyrights:

The laws governing "intellectual property" have grown so expansive in recent years that artists need legal experts to sort them all out. Borrowing from another artwork--as jazz musicians did in the 1930s and Looney Tunes illustrators did in 1940s--will now land you in court. If the current copyright laws had been in effect back in the day, whole genres such as collage, hiphop, and Pop Art might have never have existed.
The irony here couldn't be more stark. Rooted in the U.S. Constitution, copyright was originally intended to facilitate the exchange of ideas but is now being used to stifle it.

The Illegal Art Exhibit will celebrate what is rapidly becoming the "degenerate art" of a corporate age: art and ideas on the legal fringes of intellectual property. Some of the pieces in the show have eluded lawyers; others have had to appear in court.

Loaded with gray areas, intellectual property law inevitably has a silencing effect, discouraging the creation of new works.

Should artists be allowed to use copyrighted materials? Where do the First Amendment and "intellectual property" law collide? What is art's future if the current laws are allowed to stand? Stay Free! considers these questions and others in our multimedia program.

VISUAL ARTS EXHIBIT
New York City: November 13 - December 6, 2002
CBGB's 313 Gallery (313 Bowery)

Chicago: January 25 - February 21
In These Times bldg. (2040 N. Milwaukee)

Featuring murdered Disney characters, the Colonel Sanders mandala, a Texaco-laced doily, and more.

FILM & VIDEO FEST
November 14-17, 2002
Anthology Film Archives

George W. Bush meets the Teletubbies, Barbie tries a new job, Pikachu (of Pokemon fame) makes a friend, and more. Watch digitized versions of the films and videos.

NYU PANEL DISCUSSION
November 15, 7 p.m.
Mark Hosler of Negativland
Howard Besser, (Associate Professor of Cinema Studies and Director of the Moving Image and Archiving Program, New York University)
Natalie Jeremijenko, technoartist and design engineer
Steven Feld, Professor of Music and Anthropology, Columbia University
Meg McLagan (moderator), Asst. Professor in the Anthropology Department, New York University

MUSIC
A free compilation CD will be given away at exhibit events, featuring "illegal" tracks from Public Enemy, Negativland, John Oswald, the Beastie Boys, and more. Click here for MP3's and liner notes.

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Article Author: Eric Olsen

Career media professional Eric Olsen is honored to be the founder and former publisher of Blogcritics.org, and former publisher of Technorati.com, which both rule. He is now editor, co-founder, and CEO of The Morton Report.

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