Appropriation.
Some schools have thought namely
post-modernism suggest there's
nothing new under the sun, that
ideas are continually recycled
like the water we drink.
Whether or not this is true,
artist of all kinds are informed
by and imitate the work
that came before them.
For new media artists this kind
of appropriation
is a core strategy,
early in the mid-20th century,
artists redefine the idea
of originality in art.
People like Hannah Hawk
who clipped, printed
or found paper images to create
photo montage or Marcel Duchamp
who exhibited found objects
called Readymades and others
like Andy Warhol's "Brillo
Boxes" or Bruce Conner's
"Found Footage Films" represent
a move towards recycled
and recontextualized
images and objects in art.
Late 20th century artists when
presented with advanced audio
and video tools,
Internet file sharing,
and a saturated media's sphere
began media appropriations,
like audio sampling in hip-hop
and dub genres and
video mash-ups.
Other examples of remixes
are from video games
and mash-up unlike genres.
For example, the 1979 work
of photographer Sherrie Levine
is a series of rephotographs
of the earlier works
of Depression Era
photographer Walker Evans.
Levine's explicit strategy was
to illuminate the complexities
of intellectual property
in photographic imagery.
In 2001, Michael Mandiberg
digitally scanned Levine's work
once again and offers
these photos
on his website
aftersherrielevine.com,
including a downloadable
certificate of authenticity
that asserts cultural value,
but little or no economic value.
Often this appropriation would
include commercial intellectual
property, this practice
prompted business to overreact
and apply great pressure
on the courts
to win more repressive
intellectual property laws
to prevent elusive
copies and distribution
of their media assets
like DVDs and audio CDs.
Corporations also
stepped up the prosecution
of people sharing
Internet music and movies.
