Simon

Mea culpa= indeed I was guilty of overgeneralisation. Artists and scientists
work in a variety of social and economic settings and IP and originality
have
different roles depending on setting and how people pay the rent.

And as you point out "orginality' functions differently in the arts and
sciences. In the sciences priority counts- for ip and recognition-but
then scientists who work on elaborating a new theory and its
implications are not accused of being 'derivative'. In the arts its not
so much priority ( sic the pioneers now footnotes in histories) as
market recognition ? And someone creating work that derives form
anothers is called derivative and thats a minus.

The museum world is badly adapted to dealing with the kind of artmaking
going on in the on line world in general so it is probably a mistake
to engage these discussions in the context of museums that have
been built up over the last 100 years with a certain economic model
in mind ( sic the proliferation of new museums in china that need
paintings to cover their walls)(hence the explosion of painting art in
china).


Which brings us back to the function of 'curator' in the new media
landscape with the blurring of lines both across business models
but also creative roles.

A curator in a musem of modern art would not go about defacing
the work of artists they are showing, but then again web art shown
in a museum clearly is a fish out of water (to mix metaphors)

I need to go back and read your book with James Leach


Incidentally we are working with James Leach in the artsactive
network of organisations that run artists residencies in science
and industry= and many of these ip and originality issues are at the
fore of the problems encountered. The arts organisations that place
artists in r and d labs and industry have both a curatorial function,
but by necessity a producer function that can work into a co-creation
function. Artists working in science or industry contexts confront
very different ways that mashing would be construed since there are
different social/economic model boundaries.

Interestingly enough ZKM has pioneered a "scientific group in residence"
in an art institution!!

Roger

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Simon Biggs <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Jun 18, 2006 11:22 AM
Subject: [NEW-MEDIA-CURATING] Mash up ethics
To: [log in to unmask]

Hi all



However, it is important to distinguish between IP emerging from research
and the outcome of its application. Scientists (and artists) still have to
trade on the perceived value of "originality" in their work. Scientists will
not get their papers published or be asked to give keynotes at conferences
if they are perceived as not making an original contribution in their
knowledge community. If this happens they will not keep their (very likely
poorly paid) job in academia for long. The same holds true for artists. The
question is whether the contexts in which artist's outcomes are presented
offer a model which marries with the publicly funded research and
development context they are working in? Clearly different artists will find
different solutions to this problem, and this is a big issue better
addressed in another discussion.
>>
How does this fit with the mash up? Well, like most science I think most art
has always been based on the concept of the mash up. How else does one seek
to "stand on the shoulders of giants". Nevertheless, it is in the careful
differentiation of "originality" in the contribution that value will be
established, whatever the socio-economic model employed.
>>
I have to say that I have a real problem with the idea of "originality",
which is why I am using the term in quotation marks. Nevertheless, I cannot
think of an alternative measure of value that would allow either art or
science to justify its social purpose. It seems to me that creativity is
entirely dependent upon this concept. I even wrote a book on this (with
James Leach) and still have problems! Sorry if that all sounds a little
ambivalent and unresolved. I guess that this is how it is (at least for me).

Best

Simon

uk/schools/cs/cri/adrc/research2/