DOX – Centre for Contemporary Art

The exhibit raises questions the limits of the “private property” model of creative work in the digital era and with its rise in collective authorship, non-profit artistic production, inexpensive or free online distribution, widespread practices of sampling, and accessibility of work that has been digitized and that can be collected into archives.

The exhibit focuses on the creator’s control over the manner of their work’s use after publication and in circulation, asking what goals one has for publishing work — profit, prestige, or social good. A whole generation of artists, programmers, writers, and musicians are questioning whether the profit motive is the most important one to protect, or whether the social value of creative work would be better served with freer and more open access to the world’s collection of creative work.

The exhibit critically engages the philosophy of “intellectual property” in the Czech Republic and worldwide, and traces the rise of alternative copyright systems that challenge global intellectual property law and corporate control of culture. It focuses on the rise of the Creative Commons movement and the development of a simple system of licenses that allow authors to control their work: the Creative Commons licenses. We look at the development and success of Creative Commons in three case study nations —the Czech Republic, Brazil, and the United States. The exhibit also shows the practical realities of contemporary artists and institutions who need to find new funding models as the economics of creative production shift dramatically.

The exhibit also ties the alternative copyright movement to its intellectual heritage—the practices of collage, satire, samizdat publishing, quotation and sampling, and to larger social questions about the benefits of cultural exchange through sharing and gifting. We present a selection of work that has consciously or retrospectively become “illegal art” for their sampling of pre-existing works, including Andy Warhol, {other artists}. The exhibit also presents Creative Commons-licensed tracks by prominent Czech musicians and an open-software remixing system for in-gallery and on-line remix.

A number of hands-on remix workshops, films, lectures, and a Creative Commons salon are planned events around this exhibit for the month of April.

The exhibit utilizes Creative Commons licenses works—artworks, films, photography, infographics, texts, music, and typefaces—throughout and all original content is licensed through Creative Commons BY-NC-SA license. Any gallery or individual who wishes to reproduce the exhibit in full may do so without permission. 

(18.3. - 16.5.2010)