Once upon a time mass media copyright was an open and shut case. Today, despite the enforcement-minded US lobbies from the recording industry (RIAA) and the movie industry (MPAA), the new generation is rethinking the ideas of intellectual property, especially when it comes to personal expression and artistic projects.
Some 50 people attended the Shreveport showing of the documentary Rip, A Remix Manifesto, which offers a radical challenge to traditional ideas of culture and copyright. Multimedia artist Sara Hebert led the post-mix discussion and was joined by the Robinson Film Center's Chris Jay.
Rip! frequently cited attorney-author Lawrence Lessig (Stanford Law and Harvard Law faculties), a visionary who has offered the world a provocative analysis of copyright in the digital age.
According to Wikipedia, Lessig "supports free software and open spectrum. At his “Free culture” keynote at OSCON 2002, half of his speech was also about software patents, which he views as a rising threat to both free/open source software and innovation. His fifth book is Remix: Making Art and Commerce Thrive in the Hybrid Economy. It is available as a free download under a Creative Commons license.[1]
The Remix Manifesto is a film about how today's artists in Brazil, the US and in Europe are developing a mash-up culture - an artistic free-for-all which samples sections of movies, books, songs and graphic material while building something new.
In keeping with the theme, people went home from the event with free copies of the movie as well as free remix software.
Photo by Chris Jay, blogged with impunity by Robert Trudeau since Jay gives his photos a Creative Commons tag.
1 comment:
Thanks so much for the fantastic write up! After the movie, many folks asked how they can get involved in raising awareness of our oppressive copyright laws. Brett Gaylor is rounding up folks to support Jamie Thomas' legal fund, which is a great way to get started.
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