Mariah Goes Postmodern

I’m a badge-wearing fan of Wreck & Salvage.

Have they just created the first Mariah Carey meme?

Mariah Carey and Marcel Duchamp by wreckandsalvage on Vimeo.

Mariah Carey and Albert Einstein by wreckandsalvage on Vimeo.

Mariah Carey and Andy Rooney by wreckandsalvage on Vimeo.

Mariah Carey and Orson Welles by wreckandsalvage on Vimeo.

Still three videos to go on this mini series, so keep ’em peeled.

Go to Wreck & Salvage’s blog for the feed on their reality re-ordering.

In their words:

“We are three internet hobos riding the rails of digital refuse, navigating through the brambles, backwoods, and country roads. Adventure! Huddled around this campfire we share stories of our journeys.”

Soda Jerk and Pirate Pops

The “internet piracy trial of the decade” began today with The Pirate Bay in the docks.

The four defendants face a fine of 1.2m kronor (£1,000) and two years in prison. They could leave 25m torrent-tracking users behind them if it all falls down.

Feels strange that this is happening now. Last week pharmaceutical giants GlaxoSmithKline announced their intentions to go open source. Offline business is starting to follow the online models of sharing.

I never can understand what makes creative copyright so different. Ideas are ideas, right? Maybe it’s time to pick up Lawrence Lessig again.

Or sit back and enjoy a Soda Jerk remix … while there’s still some in the bottle.

Pixel Pirate II Hollywood Trailer by Soda Jerk on YouTube.

Related:

– Soda Jerk interview on Create Digital Motion

– Understanding fair use copyright

– Remixing in… Microsoft Excel?

Re-Splice Your Weekend

Got a split-second this weekend? I envy you. But I can happily spare a recommendation.

Go to Now Showing at the Cosh Gallery, Soho, London.

Some spectacular reinterpretations of classic film posters on show. Above, works by Kako/ Carlos Bela and Pietari Posti/ Underware, below by James Joyce and David Johnston/ David Ellis.

The prints look exceptional. And I’m busy with some reinterpretation myself, so I guess that explains why this grabbed me.

I’ll be VJing for Jungle Drums at The Egg on Saturday. If you’re coming down, pop over and say hi. We did a bunch of these Brazilian shows last summer and people seemed to like the vibe. So I’m re-editing what felt goodest.

On Thursday next week, I’ll be re-performing two poetry pieces with Henry Stead, and trotting out to new ones. Swing by The FleaPit Cafe on Columbia Rd for London Poetry Systems 02 if you’re feeling floaty and curious.

And whatever you’re doing over the weekend, and the week to come, I hope you enjoy every minute of it.

Understanding Fair Use

Luke sent me a very informative link from Boing Boing yesterday. If you’re not in the habit of making video, you can skip this post.

I won’t pretend that Fair Use is riveting. But it’s something you need to understand if you want to sample material that isn’t your own.

This piece is available in full here and the Centre for Social Media has a lot more to help you get your head around Creative Commons law and Fair Use.

Why does any of this concern me? Well, it affects my VJing work, for one. I’ve not yet met a VJ who doesn’t use a single sample in their set. Neither have I met a VJ who’s entirely comfortable about their legal footing in doing so.

But a VJ should aspire to sample less and less as they develop. There’s a lot of insight in the book and DVD by D-Fuse and Michael Faulkner on this subject.

And whatever you’re doing, whether it’s original or sampled, it should be transformative. That’s the whole point.

I think reading up on Fair Use is an effective way to quality control your work and ensure you stand out from the YouTube mash-ups. I’d recommend it.

Street-Splintered Ad Mosaics

Toronto street artist Posterchild went to New York this month and transformed digital ad platforms into stained-glass graffiti installations. Watch the video below. (via)

At the same time, the CutUp Collective are removing London ad posters wholesale, cutting them into thousands of bits, then reconfiguring the display space with their recycled material. (via)

Do corporate identities represent the last big remix taboo? Now that brands are present in social online spaces, will they ever let themselves be personalised?

Or is it left for the street artist to educate them in humanity?

Previously: Brand logos remixed; Skullphone hijacks New York billboards.

Hey! Leave Those Brands Alone

Danish artist Nadia Plesner devised this design to raise money for Darfur.

Louis Vuitton aren’t happy about her fundraising activities (full story here), citing an infringement of “Intellectual Property Rights”.

“Intellectual Property”?

Wow. How contrary. Brands want us to love, cherish, kiss and hug them. Online, they want us to play with them, tickle them, retouch them (I’m thinking sneakers and labels – Beck’s Fusions last year comes to mind).

They want us to remix. Because they know we like to remix. But only if it’s on their terms and, preferably, their microsite.

This attitude’s so retro it’s almost charming. But not quite. And far less charming for its PR stupidity. They could have easily supported the campaign and added buckets to their brand greenwash. Not to mention dirtied dollars to the Darfur appeal.

I’m with Brazilian designer Mario Amaya (see below). Let’s get remixing brands, whether they like it or not. If they want to be in our lives, they need to be taught how the real world shakes today.

Related: Boosh vs. Honey Monster, Round 1.

Essential: The Pirate’s Dilemma – We Invented the Remix.

Previous: Segway Watch – the Future Goes Social.