One aspect of the creative industry that has remained the same throughout generations is the difficulty for artists to inject their work into popular culture. Utopian Plagiarism, Hypertextuality, and Electronic Cultural Production by Critical Art Ensemble (CAE) written in 1991 argues that “The Video revolution failed for two reasons – a lack of access and an absence of desire” (99) while artists from the documentary Press. Pause. Play. point out how easy access is to creative technology. The artists from PPP point out that it is much more difficult for good work to breakthrough into popular culture because there is so much of it. Comparing the arguments by CAE with the ideas in PPP reveals that artists breaking through into popular culture has always been difficult, but it is difficult today for different reasons than it used to be. For this reason, quality plagiarism is essential in the creative industry. First of all, it is important to understand the meaning of plagiarism. CAE said that “one of the main goals of the plagiarist is to restore the dynamic and unstable drift of meaning, by appropriating and recombining fragments of culture.” (86). CAE is defining what makes quality plagiarism here. This definition compares nicely with their question “what is the point of saving language when there is no longer anything to say?” When they say “there is no longer anything to say,” they mean that there are no more “fragments of culture” that have gone un-experienced. CAE’s point here is that there is nothing that can be made anymore without plagiarizing. Artists from PPP embrace the fact that plagiarism or “recombination” is necessary to make good art. The similarity between the two works is that the comparison between the two show... ... middle of paper ... ...en in 1991. A lack of access was a hurdle that made it difficult for artists to be successful. Like an over-indulgence in technology today makes it difficult for an artist to get noticed, a lack of access to technology in the past made it difficult for artists to create work. In both cases, quality plagiarism was essential for artwork to break through into popular culture. One artist in PPP said it best when he said “you just can’t avoid limitations I guess.” This statement summarizes the constant limitations that artists have faced throughout history when trying to get their work noticed in popular culture. One important way that artists have gotten their work noticed is by gathering different “fragments of culture” and recombining them to make quality art. In other words, Plagiarism is the key for artists to overcome constant limitations in the creative industry.
The word “original” is often used to describe paintings that have been manufactured by hand, but it is not clear whether hand-made copies of work are still considered so. When an artist copies another’s art, is his own art original now that it has been tainted by the thoughts’ of others? The poem “To A Mouse” by Robert Burns served as inspiration for John Steinbeck when writing the famed tragedy “Of Mice and Men.” Steinbeck, a Nobel prize-winning author, set many of his books during the Great Depression or the California Dustbowl, times when the future seemed bleak. In Of Mice and Men, man-child Lennie and his “father figure” George form an unsuspecting friendship, and set off into the world with their dreams of one day buying land and settling down. The characteristics of these protagonists are directly taken from the Burns’ poem, which describes similar characters. Is such a close emulation detrimental to the value of originality in the work? Steinbeck believed that “only through imitation do we develop toward originality,” a motif seen in Of Mice and Men. Inspiration is necessary for all art, but by exploiting Burns’ poem, Steinbeck bastardizes the innocence of originality.
The book, Other People’s Words: What Plagiarism Is and How to Avoid it, has taught me many things about plagiarism. Some of the things this book taught me are the definition and some ways to avoid plagiarism.
The use of appropriation has played a significant role in the history of the arts. Appropriation is a strategy that has been used by artists for millennia. It involves the intentional copying, borrowing and alteration of pre-existing and often popular works. Many artists believe they are re-contextualising or appropriating the original imagery, allowing the viewer to renegotiate the meaning of the original in a different, more relevant, or more current context and that in separating images from their original context, they allow them to take on new meanings. Artists such as Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque and Gordon Bennett use appropriation as a form of bringing new, often personal, meaning to an artwork such as Gordon Bennett’s ‘Outsider’.
In the video produced on TED “Embrace the Remix” by Kirby Ferguson, he discusses the importance of understanding that “creativity comes from without not from within and that we are not self made but dependent on each other” (Ferguson, 2012). Ferguson discusses how everything is a remix and defines remixing as copying, transforming, and combining. He makes a logical sound argument through the use of logical fallacies to convince his viewers. Ferguson argues how remixing helps creativity through the use of logos by providing cases of Steve Jobs building off ideas, appealing to ethos with poisioning the wall fallacy, and emotionally appeal to the viewers through pathos with appeal to tradition.
According to Tocqueville in aristocratic times the purpose of creating the arts was to produce the best artwork spending a great amount of time on it perfecting it and selling it for a high price. However, in today’s society the way to get rich is to sell your artwork for a cheaper price by manufacturing more quantity but with cheaper materials less in value, reproducing the artwork quicker and cheaper. Today all ranks of people can afford to buy a replicated artwork, which can easily be mistaken for the real thing. They are so highly perfected it is hard to tell apart what is original and what is not. They are many artistes today however; the quality of the production has
It is a random Thursday night on the first floor of Brewster Hall and the Campus of State University when a frazzled young girl wanders into the room of a fellow student inquiring about The Stranger by Albert Camus. She needs to have a three page paper completed by tomorrow and cannot find a kick start on the essay writing process. Since her peers are on the level of the common doormat concerning Camus, she was left without any further help. However, had she just typed “the stranger, camus” into Google, three of the first ten sites listed would have directed her to either free or paid essay sites.
Artists are people who express their feelings and emotions on something they have created. They work there lives on these imaginative pieces, some for a living some just out of the pure enjoyment. Those who make a living on selling their art have to work very hard at making their selves known, for some there art never becomes know they work immensely but to no avail. These artists, some of which could keep up with those who are very famous, have their art fall into an abyss where there art is never heard of or even seen. In today’s world artist have many of ways of putting their selves out there and becoming known in the art industry. Social media and just the internet alone have helped “starving artist” become very well known in the art world.
New York Times journalist, Trip Gabriel, puts into perspective students ability to use their creativity throughout their academic career in “Plagiarism Lines Blur for Students in Digital Age.” This article discusses issues of plagiarism in the digital age, especially through college students. There are different perspectives from various people either attending college or professors that argue why plagiarism occurs. Whether it’s because of laziness, unpreparedness going into college, originality, or authorship not taken into consideration. Overall, this article infers the different standpoints of plagiarism, demonstrating the ease the digital age gives students to plagiarize, and the importance
The Twilight Zone aired an episode in 1960 called The Four of Us Are Dying. The episode follows a con man capable of changing his appearance by merely looking at the person he wants to become. His whole life he has slipped by, without a conscience, using his ‘talent’ to mold into other established people’s lives. He takes advantage of his ability and finds ways to rob his victims of their identities, fame, and personal acquaintances. In today’s pop culture, especially pop music, this flagrant disrespect for culture and counterfeiting of style are diminishing the credibility of many popular artists. Similar to the man in The Twilight Zone episode, there are artists in the spotlight today that need to be reconsidered for their ‘unique’ styles.
Remix Culture One of the biggest issues that arises with remix art is the issue of ‘Remix vs. Plagiarism.” When does a remixed work become an original work of art? Is the work considered original as soon as it is tweaked or when it is unrecognizable? Neither, a work is unique when its purpose and meaning transcends that of the original. Works like Montgomery Lee’s “Copyright Symphony” take a variety of images and use them to create music out of the embedded data in the photographs.
This paper deals, in broadest terms, with the questions of how artwork is connected to the changes and dynamics that prevail in a society. To describe these changes, I will investigate how a specific type of art reflects its social content in contemporary societies. My analysis is carried out by closely looking at the Pop Art movement, especially with Andy Warhol, who has come to be known as one of the greatest artists of the 20th century. It will be argued that Pop Art managed to successfully articulate its time, and in so doing, it became a widely influential art movement whose effect is still very much existent in today’s world of art. In order to prove its claim, this paper relies on the theory of “the field of cultural production” by Pierre
“Art in a Material World.” The show’s basic tenet is that “Warhol’s most radical lesson is reflected in the work of artists of subsequent generations who have infiltrated the publicity machine and the marketplace as a deliberate strategy.” (O’Brien,
Throughout time, artists have yearned to make a living off of the work that they create. Artists have been both instigators and creators of many social and political ideas, sharing their thoughts and opinions through their work. Just like America strives to make itself known as a relatively new and independent country, new artists struggle to make themselves stand out among the older and more well-known artists. The delicate environment that maintains their source of ideas and creativity is at risk of being overcome by the business of art. In the controversy brewing over creativity in modern times, artists are going to have to select a side, and the structure of the artistic world as a whole rides on their choice. Some connoisseurs of art believe that artists should not be paid for their work, because it will affect the quality in a negative way. They believe that it will be rushed, and done in vain, to try and pay its creator’s next bill. On the other hand, though, how are artists supposed to support themselves and their work? No artist would willingly work a second job if they could turn a profit from their personal creative outlet. The value of art, as well, should be decided by the quality of the art, and not be chosen on the identity of the artist or the reputation of a middleman. Overall, it would be healthy for society as a whole to be more conscious about defining the separation of art and business.
As literary critics, Plato and Aristotle disagree profoundly about the value of art in human society. Plato attempts to strip artists of the power and prominence they enjoy in his society, while Aristotle tries to develop a method of inquiry to determine the merits of an individual work of art. It is interesting to note that these two disparate notions of art are based upon the same fundamental assumption: that art is a form of mimesis, imitation. Both philosophers are concerned with the artist's ability to have significant impact on others. It is the imitative function of art which promotes disdain in Plato and curiosity in Aristotle. Examining the reality that art professes to imitate, the process of imitation, and the inherent strengths and weaknesses of imitation as a form of artistic expression may lead to understanding how these conflicting views of art could develop from a seemingly similar premise.
An artist who can take an idea and improve on it is the one coined by this saying as a “great artist”. This artist do not take the idea at face value, he/she looks at it from a fresh perspective and gives the idea their own innovative twist, expanding the potential of the idea even further. Copyright laws can hinder this process significantly by limiting access and usage of the old ideas. The excess fees or legal procedures required to gain access to previous works can be slowed down, deterring some from creation and innovation. Freedom should be an essential part of the creativity process, and the existence of these laws itself could just be the limiting factor for more successful innovations to be made. Therefore, the usage of copyright laws should be reviewed frequently as it should ensure the dissemination of fresh ideas while protecting the