[rumori] Request for Comments: rtmark video theft project
Steev [rumori] Request for Comments: rtmark video theft project
Sat, 27 Mar 1999 07:23:59 -0800 (PST) (00922548239, Pine.LNX.4.05.9903270714030.8080-100000atflotsam.detritus.net)
the following is an advance copy of part of the latest Rtmark press
release, which concerns 5 different Rtmark actions. the piece i have
excerpted concerns their project called "Untitled #29.95", which advocates
the bootlegging of expensive art video work.
Of course, with Illegal Art, Rtmark has been very good for the recycled
art cause and i've always been very enthusiastic and supportive of them.
But I have mixed feelings about this project. I was wondering what some of
you might think about it.
thanx,
smh
Steev Hise, Subversive Radical Hippy Hacker
steevathise.org http://www.cyborganic.com/people/steev
recycled art site: http://www.detritus.net
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"I declare a permanent state of happiness"
-Grafitti, Paris 1968
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VIDEO CALLS FOR "THEFT" AND REDISTRIBUTION OF ART
Contacts: RTMARK (mailto:events\atrtmark.com;
http://rtmark.com/2995.html)
Untitled #29.95 (mailto:Untitled2995\athotmail.com)
Like a Robin Hood stealing from galleries to give to the internet, RTMARK
is calling for the donation of bootlegged art videos, many of which sell
for thousands of dollars, to be made into video clips and posted at
http://rtmark.com/2995.html.
"Why should only wealthy people have access to the important ideas in
art?" asks the computerized narrator in the video known as "Untitled
#29.95." The video presents clips of art videos, like Matthew Barney's
"Cremaster 5" (price: \$25,000), which have been secretly recorded in the
galleries where they are sold. "Untitled #29.95" (price: \$29.95) suggests
that all expensive video work be taped or otherwise bootlegged and sent to
RTMARK for redistribution on its site. ("Untitled #29.95" can be previewed
at http://rtmark.com/2995.html, or obtained by writing
mailto:untitled2995athotmail.com.)
Despite the fact that video has the potential to be a democratic medium
available at low costs to anyone who wants it, art galleries have recently
sought to increase video's value in the marketplace by offering certain
film and video artists' work in limited editions. The prices of these
pieces, sometimes as high as \$150,000, completely remove these works from
public consumption.
[better to have someone else say this--how about Dan Marano? is he famous?
someone famous would be good] RTMARK spokesperson Ray Thomas said of the
video, "While it should surprise no one that the art world, like the mass
commercial media, often only seeks to commodify and profit from culture,
it is important to remember that this is not an inevitable or even normal
situation. Untitled #29.95 is a very strong statement about the continued
erosion of the public sphere by corporate capital."
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http://detritus.net