Hi Marc
There is certainly a lot of art currently being produced that can as easily
be produced to the same or higher standard using open source programs, and
be done cheaper with older hardware. There is even things which can only be
done with open source software.
But to suggest this as the only solution, in my opinion, discounts too
much. It creates restrictions on the Artist. It would be to keep the artist
as amateur and hobbyist.
Example, for an artist to work at the level of cutting edge science, for an
artist to inform science, requires access to that same hardware and
software. Stuff that can't be made in a garage, it's stuff made by
the collaboration of nation states and taking the whole career's of world
leading experts.
Software, be it open source or not, remains a tool: a abstraction of the
computer, to allow its manipulation. To make to function how I want more
easily than writing machine or assembly code.
Photoshop may not be the image editing software I'd design, but it works,
or I can make it work. I don't need to make Photoshop to edit images.
A Raspberry Pi may work to play video files, but there will be times when
you have to spent ten times the money on a Brightsign player with
it's propriety s/w. If an artist isn't actively involved in the development
of open source s/w, then I don't see there is a difference in them using
open or not.
We are still talking about acquired tools. A recycled computer makes better
use of finite resources, but it remains an abstraction as much as a shiny
new one. The artist hasn't mined the minerals and etched the chipset. The
old and new are the same to the artist: a tool.
m
On 22 November 2012 16:07, marc <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Hi Lindsay,
>
> Looking forward to hearing about your experience at http://319scholes.org/in New York...
>
> At Furtherfield, all the tech we use is now recycled and reused. We are
> completely open source, this includes the set up of the exhibiting space
> and administration. Control over one's tools of creative production is now,
> as significant as having control over one's creative ideas. And, media art
> as an art practice, has gained various attributes which allow processes of
> self-autonomy. There is something about working with technology and the
> Internet that changes our perception of the world, and how we operate in
> it. Other than the world becomes less definable as nations and states. It
> evolves into a way of engaging and understanding other things, other
> worlds, other possibilities; touching on aspects of being able to re-edit
> 'source' materials, whether it be hardware, software or code, and bringing
> this knowledge with its learned experiences into, real-life situations.
>
> This philosophy or tech orientated agency I feel is (as Access Space do),
> now one of the most significant factors of being aware of contemporary
> social contexts, and integration of ecological responsibility needs full
> support by all art venues and institutions right across the board.
>
> So, regarding your approach to open source philosophy, I am wondering how
> it's working at the moment and how is this (if at all) challenging those
> artists who come your venue expecting to use propriety software?
>
> Wishing you well.
>
> marc
>
>
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