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P O L x x P O L x x P O L xx P O L xx x x x x xx P O L x P O L x x x x x x x cyberneticist. Whereas McLuhan had an English visual anthropologist and allusion to the work of Gregory Bateson, is perhaps more enticing today for its McLuhanist tendencies, Radical Software of our own time. precedent for understanding networked art what was achieved provides an important Software, the medium was , however practices. ists working at the frontier of networked for a now mythologised generation of art this publication provided a dynamic sphere tion tools in the project of social change’, retical basis for implementing communica think tank that sought to provide a ‘theo Corporation, a self-styled alternative media in New York. An initiative of the Raindance is no communication.’ from which to return. of the present moment, or a new position new footing from which to understand art !"#!$%#&'()%*#!$#+!,%#"'"-$.-/-%%#$'#0"1#+# (post-)internet. Although largely historical tory, the emergent moments of video and cal assimilation of two moments in art his imagined that began to locate itself within phy.’ spatial, social and psychological topogra cal reproduction occurs within a particular demonstrating that ‘every act of mechani ness of media ecology inspired a practice art apparatus, this burgeoning aware and sociability. Filtered through the video between technology, communication, affect ist artwork and its emphasis on separation a trope by which to re-imagine the formal the traditional empirical subject, as well as rupture from latent mind-body dualisms of nonetheless seems striking, as both a of 1960s systems thinking, this moment isn’t the place to rehash the idiosyncrasies municative ecology. and realisation in the world through com model of the mind propagating integration ject and objects are no longer separable; a -45+"1-1#,-"$+/#0-/1#!"#6.!(.#$.-#%)7 ,'2-#2+1!(+/*#2-1-0"!"3#$.-#%-/&#+%#+"# as extensions of the body, Bateson was famously argued for technological formats 4 #82*#2-('"03)2-1*#+"#+2$6'29#6+%# This essay intends to serve as a criti By Harry Burke Towards Narrative Inspired largely by now familiar In 1970 a new magazine was founded Excursions / ‘Without context there 2 The magazine was Radical 3 Whilst perhaps this 1 ------broadcast, we inhabit a post-medium condi consequently, ‘In the age of television, so it $.-#.-+1#'&#,'1-2"!%$#,-1!),#%5-(!0(!$=># ity, Krauss claimed, provided the nail in VHS tapes). Such experiential heterogene watching back childhood memories on old example uncannily familiar today would be ent forms, spaces and temporalities (an ;!1-'#$'#2-('"03)2-#52-;!')%/=#('.-2 emphasised the revolutionary ability of available portable camera, this Sony device

2 P O O L October 2011 x x x to place their viewer (participant) within artists worked to identify these patterns, differs. For if the previous generation of that post-network art of today dramatically institutions function.’ of thinking and the way that modern social determines both the individual processes operation of the formal, logical system that -1*#52'D-($%#$.+$#,+9-#;!%!7/-#$.-#!"0"!$-# 1970s repeatedly formulated and present projects that the art of the 1960s and C!$#!%#52-(!%-/=#%)(.#5'$-"$!+//=#!"0"!$-# of the period, to once more lean on Groys: phenomenology that categorised much art ingly did your hair in a webcam. circuits. Think of the last time you unthink This is a result, it is inferred, of all media a self by their surrounding environment. awareness, how they are constructed as is forced to confront their identity and self- entrapment in its closed-circuit, the viewer ity in the situation. For upon realising their shaping the viewer/participant’s subjectiv revealing the hidden forces directing and work nonetheless garners its power in tal as a Minimalist installation, Graham’s virtual.’ to something invisible, merely conceivable, the viewer may be, ultimately they point visual impression of these installations on powerful and fascinating the immediate 2-!$-2+$!'"%#+"1#,'1!0(+$!'"%A#B'6-;-2# a fragment of a formalised algorithm of Minimalist installation is perceived as the accompanying catalogue: ‘The typical towards the stringent bureaucracy that concerns, albeit with added transparency how far removed is this from Graham’s $.-#%=%$-,%#$.+$#1-0"-#)%A#F"1#!"1--1# interest in revealing our complicity with noeuvre, following an established net art Yet of course this is far from a radical ma ditional video work or gallery installation. .+(9"-=-1#6-7#0//E!"#+%#'55'%-1#$'#$.-#$2+ ing confronted with a rather corporate and projects such as Graham’s, the viewer be radical point of departure from historical Holly White). These offer, on the surface, a com (the latter collaboration completed by whatamithinking.biz and characterdate. they collaborate on businesses/projects(?) each have their own independent projects, Ed Fornieles and Ben Vickers. Although post-network art begins to question them. if network art revealed these relationships, tives and explore new situations. In short, gin to play with them, to construct narra these hidden structures, artists today be Consider here two London artists, It was such structuralism and 8 Although clearly not as monumen 9 It is in this respect ------in the best of Borges, who’s to say the two $.2')3.#+"#+11-1#/+=-2#'�($!'"#:+"1*#/!9-# within, a Borgesian drive to explore reality to question the real from without, not ture with an imagination, with a desire social sculpture, sure, yet it is social sculp activities and[...] past’. This is Beuysian even to inform them of their ‘thoughts, C6!$.')$#"'$!0(+$!'"#'2#D)%$!0(+$!'"K>#'2# characters into their life and workplace; 52'5%#'2#!"(-"$!;-%>#$'#!"$2'1)(-#0($!$!')%# with them: to contact them; to offer gifts, Vickers reserve all right to fully interact enological context, Fornieles, White and their viewer within a certain phenom of signing up. For far from merely placing clue towards the prospective consequences in their terms and conditions, which give a full scope of both projects is revealed only formalist reading in contemporary art. in their own name). Such are the limits of (admittedly more active) gesture of typing onds after arriving at the site, with the observer’ in the process about eight sec one might realise their role as ‘observed 1-0"-%#5'%$EG'21!%$#(+5!$+/!%,H#:I"#&+($# ing interaction amongst other people. (Use person, weaving narratives and encourag and Vickers can be characterised as second situations, work such as that of Fornieles For with its direct intervention in lived ,'2-#%5-(!0(+//=#!$%#!".-2-"$#1!%$!"($!'"%A# we must place an emphasis on person, or tance. My apologies for all the Greek. chical, so is narrative, and this is its impor net. In the sense that language is heterar contact with any device mediated by the neity of authentic or real experience upon the implicit agreement upon the heteroge language of the internet generation, and portal locates the projects in the shared beyond the computer screen, the online whilst the crucial interaction happens far of the online mediation of the project, for echo of the other. Here is the importance tion this is collapsed, the each becoming an 0($!$!')%#52!'2#$'#+($!;+$!'"*#)5'"#+($!;+ acters created in the above examples being tionship is complicated. Despite the char assumption), in these examples the rela historical ‘art vs life’ debate relies on this +//#+2$#!";'/;-%#+#1-32--#'�($!'"#:$.-# interesting. Whilst it is true to say that highlight under the rubric of narrative. artwork. It is this tendency that I’d like to tive participation is required to grasp the might not converge?). Fully active imagina J-0$$!"3#$.-#+2$!%$%K#12=#.),')2*#$.-# However as in traditional narrative L-$#$.-#,-(.+"!(%#'&#$.!%#0($!'"#+2-# ------

3 P O O L October 2011 x x x age. Furthermore, age. this Furthermore, becomes a tool in of our personalities in the mass-internet ship between lived and invented aspects a wry comment on the complex relation almost a sublimation of artistic aura, and tion and reality in his persona, in what is J+!/-=#.+%#('//+5%-1#$.-#%5+(-#7-$6--"#0( /+23-A#<.+$#!%#,'2-#%!3"!0(+"$#!%#$.-#6+=# art world and popular culture context at heteronomy of new media practice in both humorous nod towards questions of the Bailey actually is is debatable, offering a Jeremy Bailey’. Of course, how famous of himself as ‘Famous New Media Artist almost parodies himself and the whole idea ing example here is Jeremy Bailey, who particular post-network art. both the appreciation and consideration of the notion of artist persona is important in online alter-egos), I’d like to suggest that celebrate or propagate the phenomenon of 0(+$!'"#'"/!"-*#:$.!%#!%#"'$#+"#+$$-,5$#$'# web 2.0 shift towards traditional identi Brad Troemel’s clear consideration of the the last few years. However, building upon popular conceit in internet practice over rative, often integral to the work’s context. artist constructs her own (invented) nar &2',#02%$#5-2%'"#"+22+$!;-*#!"#6.!(.#$.-# highlight the differentiation in this schema tion seems a useful tool through which to to de-emphasise spectacle). This distinc aged amongst participants, it is intended context accounts for the active role encour of second person as opposed to third in this cultural trend of self-mythologising, as we this is true only in recognition of a wider ebration of the artist as self-mythologiser, and varied. ject), although examples seem widespread America Online Made Me Hardcore pro a narrative generously supported by his example than Jeremy Bailey, although it’s of Parker Ito (this is a far more subtle something of a mystique around the notion her work, or even Parker Ito developing cess Belsize Dollar persona as a vehicle for instance is Helen Benigson using her Prin person narrative. Perhaps a more obvious $-"1-"(=#IK1#/!9-#$'#(+//#+$$-"$!'"#$'#+%#02%$# connecting artist and system. It is this in a new way, as part of a shared narrative into the work, the viewer is made complicit of their imagination, by their reading this in the artist’s development. For by force curate use of the word), acting as a tracker case adding a certain pathos, in the inac the reading of the work itself, (in Bailey’s This latter scheme has been a Whilst perhaps edging towards a cel 10 An interest ------timates its own blurring of the virtual and IK1#7-#$.-#02%$#$'#+1,!$#$.+$#$.!%#-%%+=#!" constructs and contests its own narrative, tionship between video and post-network virtual real. everybody. created online, and to open this space for the same fragmented moral zone we’ve but to activate it, to bring into real space identify this convergence, or even enact it, the function of narrative seems not just to virtual seems less radical every day. Thus more the invitation is inwards. a landscape not yet fully mapped. Only once further blurring of the virtual and the real, $!'"*#.-2-#!$#%--,%#%)&0(!-"$#$'#"'$-#,-2-/=# probably subject for a separate investiga for the politics of this phenomenon is more be radical. mirrored selves. Further, even myths can post as we construct the informatics of our between what we post and what we do not works, negotiating the complex dynamics invent ourselves almost daily on social net and not simply revealed. exalted, in which structures are reworked of communication are exploited not merely silent Modernist grid; through which lines 1!3!$+/#32!1#,!3.$#7-#+#0"+/#2!5'%$-#$'#$.-# key. And perhaps this new working of the moments might question each other seems seems interesting; in what ways the two this network / post-network dichotomy the real. To what extent we might maintain Inasmuch as reading back in a rela Thus, perhaps, narrative makes the The play between the real and the 11 Yet to what extent one argues - - - -

4 P O O L October 2011 x x x view/228 Brad_Troemel_Peer_Pressure_2011.pdf volume_72/11774000/11774401/1/print/ 67, no3, Fall 2008, 99 Legacy of Gregory Bateson” in Art Journal, “Radical Software”, Dan Graham, and the “Steps to an Ecology of Communication: past/11-07-newjpegs.html 2000, 32 um Condition. London: Thames & Hudson, North Sea: Art in the of Age the Post-Medi and Hudson, 2003,159 American Art Since 1945, London: Thames tion: Systems, Sited and Media”. in Joeslit, of Man (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1964) han, Understanding Media: The Extensions Chicago Press, 1972); and Marshall McLu Ecology of Mind (Chicago: University of org/e/history.html Chicago Press, 1972, 408 of Mind, (399-410). Chicago: University of planation”, in Bateson, Steps to an Ecology 3. See Gregory Bateson, Steps to an 2. http://www.radicalsoftware. 1. Bateson, Gregory. “Cybernetic Ex — MMA#.$$5NOO666A-E?)4A(',OD')2"+/O 10. http://www.lulu.com/items/ 9. ibid., 63 8. open systems, 55 7. Dan Graham, from Kaizen, William 6. http://www.johanberggren.com/ 5. Krauss, Rosalind. A Voyage on the 4. Joselit, David. “Art as Informa - - - -

5 P O O L October 2011 x x x advances from merely forming a part of an When exposed to a wider public, something ence: quantity, speed and accessibility. of the key facilitators for such an experi "'$#+(.!-;-#$.!%#!"#$.-#%+,-#6+=*#1-0(!-"$# potential experiences. Physical reality can providing its users with a multitude of imitation. The Internet is a mega-context, physical reality exists within it, albeit an mental quality; almost everything in our is perhaps its all-encompassing funda makes the Internet more real in some ways Latin ‘realis’ – ‘relating to things’. What ‘real’? The word reality derives from the !"1-0"!$-/=A#<.+$#1'#6-#,-+"#7=#,'2-# and making it available to a wider public ;!1!"3#-;!1-"(-#'&#!$%#-4!%$-"(-*#(-2$!0-1# comes to feel more ‘real’: archived, pro our website we have found that the work or her work is? best represent and communicate what his the artist work within these boundaries to through documentation on screen. How can cal form; therefore it has to be translated 5-2!-"(-#$.-!2#6'29#02%$#.+"1#!"#!$%#5.=%! line. In many cases, it is not possible to ex young artists around the world do so on across our work and that of many other where the documentation better represents sion of the work; potentially to the extent artist directs this updated, improved ver that weren’t necessary or attractive. The hanced, altered or emit aspects of reality chance; images can be manipulated, en work online gives the artist a second also the better, superior? Representing $.-#0"+/#%$+3-#'&#$.-#6'29*#7)$#5-2.+5%# work. Ultimate as in the end of a process, ('"%!1-2-1#$.-#0"+/*#'2#)/$!,+$-#('"$-4$#&'2# the online. omnipresent, incorporeal existence that is universal reality and becomes part of that timate exposure. The work enters a global, properly brought to conclusion by this ul %$+3-#$.-#6'29#1'-%#"'$#&--/#0"!%.-1*#"'$# $.!%#('"02,-1#2-+/!$=A#

6 P O O L October 2011 x x x sider the documentation of work carefully, of it. Of course as artists we have to con tion of work online can’t depict the totality you have never been to, seeing documenta to the work. Like seeing images of a place limited, constricted view or point of access documentation of artwork offers a very more of an experience. genuinely, be more truthful, more engaging, work may capture the essence of it more the work. This way of accessing Sehgal’s ticles and the odd bit of footage to interpret Online, what we are left with is a trail of ar the audience to use his or her imagination. it like? How does it work? – encouraging mystique builds around the work – What is and reviews, or through conversations. A take place. These are in the form of articles gage with it, other forms of communication Sehgal’s work, the way he intends us to en that potentially completely misrepresent of the work. Instead of images or ary reproduction into the paramount form potentially transforms what is a second physical work becomes digitized and with the Internet as well; the primary, thing” secondary material it becomes a primary make live work, once you start to produce could destroy the live experience. “If you he fears that documentation of this work of the audience/participant is primary, and work. For Sehgal the embodied experience ists is the way he refuses to document his differentiates Sehgal from many other art of the music the work becomes energized. work. Together with the rhythm and sound wise (mostly) static representation of the visible, they bring movement to the other video, strips of the music video behind are graphs more intently. At the edges of the video brings also makes us view the photo this direction. The time element that the itself; it angles the work more pointedly in enhancing the aggressiveness of the piece Boy feat Lil B. The music is aggressive, over the music video Swag OD by Soulja one of the plastic boxes, these are placed video clip where someone pours water into a slideshow of photographs, and a short particularly interesting. Si-Qin has created tension cords. The documentation of this is boxes containing water and electrical ex It is a sculpture that comprises 16 plastic audience is as relevant as possible? $.-#('"0"-1#;!-6#''29#$.+$#6-#'&&-2#+"# even more resourceful in making sure that but to what extent can we do so? Can we be Best Value As with anything represented online, 3 . This illustrates a risk associated 4 is a work by Timur Si-Qin. ------work but in a sense they are re-made in a !,+3-%#+2-"K$#5)2-/=#2-"1!$!'"%#'�"!%.-1# of representation perhaps could. These engaging way than what a realistic form us to imagine, in a more inquisitive and These obscure images do just that; entice only imagine what it must have been like. igmatic representation of the event. We can ence of the work it is to say the least an en online visitor and with no physical experi through a dark grey, blurred layer. As an some form of action that can be discerned them depict people and what appears to be number of photoshopped images. Some of LLAUNCH EVENTY video recording. The documentation of photo-realistic image or straightforward in many cases differ from the traditional documentation of performance-based works of it in a very generous way. tion certainly offers one type of experience intentions for his work. This documenta more of an insight, depending on Si-Qin’s point that potentially gives an audience is something extra, an additional entry The documentation adds to the work, there online audience. stand it and helping us communicate to an is, ultimately furthering how we under think more carefully about what the work conceptualization process. It can make us of the work, but as part of the making and entity merely mirroring the physical state not view the documentation as a separate would not be what it is. Perhaps we must ture the properties without which the work from the essence of it, making sure to cap and to what extent it enhances or detracts we place between the viewer and the work We need to be aware of what kind of layer sion, it forms a layer, andis a translation. direct, total experience of its physical ver pletely transparent or give the viewer a mentally documentation can never be com 2-('21!"3#6.+$#!%#+/2-+1=#0"!%.-1A#G)"1+ as being a ‘dead’ process, simply a way of the work. new format, held together by the essence of Kimi Conrad is an art practice whose It is easy to overlook documentation 5 comprises a small ------

7 P O O L October 2011 x x x unch%20eventy.html value.html vimeo.com/10139041 view-with-oliver-laric/, 2010 artpulsemagazine.com/the-real-thing-inter Thing / Interview with Oliver Laric, http:// 4. http://timursiqin.com/2011/best 3. Lars Vilks Vimeo account, http:// 2. Domenico Quaranta, The Real 1. http://www.image-objects.com/ — 5. http://www.kimiconrad.com/lla - - -

8 P O O L October 2011 x x x irgend so’n Türke” [This show was pre show with the sentence “am Mikrofon war the town. Gün would typically wind up the an incineration plant) and broadcast to tion’s transmitter mast (located on top of pseudo-journalism, was sent to the sta tion of street knowledge and dadaesque accompanied by our host Gün’s declama and phone calls trapped in feedback loops, midday, a cacophony of electronic noises was transformed into a laboratory. Around Every wednesday, for two hours, the studio ronment for all kinds of experimentation. platform also proves to be a fertile envi activism to dedicated music formats, the ranging from support groups over political highly heterogeneous programme schedule, broadcasted content. Besides enabling a freedom of expression with regards to the FRS grants its participants a maximum In return, the grassroots organisation of hosts or journalists are paid for their jobs. ment-free, but also that none of the DJs, means that the programme is advertise- !"%$!$)$!'"A#Q5-(!0(+//=*#$.!%#"'$#'"/=# gests, the FRS station is a noncommercial für Stuttgart (FRS). As the name sug programme Hyper-ground on Freies Radio and I started to run the weekly FM radio preceded by a lively exchange of letters and with the rest of the world. This was their homemade music among themselves platform Upitup, with the objective to share Elmo and Giacomo Fazi created the online friends Dennis Knopf, Pierluigi Cau, Paolo exciting. Around the same time, my close in and listen to our programme remained one million people could potentially tune major radio stations, the idea that around had nowhere near as many listeners as the tions. While we were always aware that we the hegemony of the big broadcasting sta we perceived as mushy listening habits or "-;-2#(/-+2/=#1-0"-1A#@+=7-#!$#6+%#6.+$# of resistance–against what, however, was medium of radio, we always had a feeling Apart from this playful exploration of the and their offspring are facing in Germany. the prejudices many immigrant workers ble party after each show) and highlighting laws (the obligation to name the responsi breaking one of the radio station’s few iron sented by one of those Turks], thereby both In early 2003, a couple of friends By Leo Merz Music Distribution Netlabels and the Politics of Online How Free is Free? ------entirely disconnected from the physical an immaterial, disembodied reality that is of cyberculture that frame virtual life as Sundén challenges early utopian visions ing”. Arguing from a feminist perspective, online, we must write ourselves into be (2006) asserts that “in order to exist In reference to Sundén, Danah Boyd MOOs, text-based virtual reality systems. Jenny Sundén’s (2003) analysis of early ‘musical public’”. artists we liked. We wanted to be part of a felt like we’d love to ‘exist’, just like those conto nostro, for ourselves, on our own and from the fact that “We all made music, per that the initial motivation for Upitup came (2010, pers. comm., 6 September) suggests commonly referred to as a netlabel. Knopf they realised they were running what is other individuals. It was at this stage that would accept demos and release music by personal endeavour to a platform that the site gradually evolved from a very networking with like-minded creatives, Rome and vice-versa. When Upitup started and CD-Rs that were sent from Stuttgart to coercion.” (1999: 162) If we acknowledge the self are integrated into structures of to take into account where techniques of upon himself. And, conversely, […] one has to processes by which the individual acts individuals over one another have recourse that “the technologies of domination of social structure of power. Foucault states selves, are always already part of a macro- through which individuals constitute them that is, the methods and techniques perspective, the technologies of the self, technological contexts. From a Foucauldian with wider economic, political, social and services, they are also inextricably linked !1-"$!0-%#6!$.!"#'"/!"-#%'(!+/#"-$6'29!"3# of teenage egocentrism that Boyd (2006) dismissed as manifestations of the type early days of Upitup: comm., 6 September) perspective on the view is mirrored by Cau’s (2010, pers. constraints of “real-life”. This relational This aspiration can be related to While these two examples could be feedback.” ple found it, downloaded it and gave music only existed online, when peo our thing. I could even say that my we had the proof that we were doing dreamed of playing gigs, but online but I had my music up online. We virtual reality. I was not a musician, ed our own society—it was our own “We basically felt that we had found - - - -

9 P O O L October 2011 x x x appear on the label—this type of organi who determine which artists and music board (often the directors themselves), Most netlabels have a curator or curatorial often presented with a cover artwork. tracks by individuals or bands, which are and distribute collections of related audio the concepts of the album, EP or single record labels. Many netlabels adhere to ways similar to traditional independent “free of charge”. Netlabels are in some tions, but rather without payment, or context, does not mean without restric ,)%!(#0/-%#&'2#&2--A#B'6-;-2*#R&2--S*#!"#$.!%# online platform that distributes digital resist them? tion work? And, consequently, how can one How do these wider schemes of domina the self relate to “structures of coercion”. ways these micro-relational techniques of Foucault proposes, we have to ask in which the potential bottom-up exertion of power thriving exchange of music via peer-to-peer tion can be observed when looking at the answer to this question, a similar motiva music stem from? While there is no simple duction, organisation and distribution of apparently altruistic devotion to the pro CDs or vinyl records. But where does this TUV#'&#.!%#2-%5'"1-"$%#%-//#1!3!$+/#0/-%*# artists and their music online. Only about netlabels claim that their goal is to promote by Patryk Galuszka (2009: 6), almost all curatorial freedom. According to a study tration costs and a maximum degree of extremely low distribution and adminis (',5+2!%'"#$'#'&?!"-#/+7-/%*#"-$/+7-/%#.+;-# of organisation are rather obvious: in 52!,+2!/=#'"/!"-A#P.-#7-"-0$%#'&#$.!%#$=5-# whole production and distribution process circumstance that the former organise the and traditional record labels lies in the the main distinction between netlabels that netlabels distribute music for free, traditional record labels. Besides the fact sation is similar to the A&R division of Essentially, a netlabel is a curated A POLITICS OF CONFRONTATION 2001: 210) conditions—rebel.” (Hardt & Negri resist and—given the necessary that those who are exploited will To us it seems completely obvious the most natural and healthy acts. Disobedience to authority is one of level is the will to be against. […] on at the most basic and elemental R8"-#-/-,-"$#6-#(+"#5)$#')2#0"3-2# ------individuals (Frith & Marshall 2004, Lessig platforms, social networking services and '2#7=#0/!"3#/+6%)!$%#+3+!"%$#0/-#%.+2!"3# lobbying efforts and strong-arming ISPs property rights, either through extensive strengthen the enforcement of intellectual on the music industry’s ambitions to their price. It has widely been reported in which the scarcity of goods determines media poses to neoclassical market theory, 52'7/-,%#$.+$#$.-#('"03)2+$!'"#'!3!$+/# level, Kelly (2008) notes that: (P2P) technologies. On a more fundamental fm, Spotify or Soundcloud have embraced a web-based music services such as Last. nian intellectual property regimes. Many the technologies of sharing, not by draco by harnessing the possibilities offered by “willingness to pay” can only be tapped on the music industry. However, the users’ 0"1!"3#%.')/1#52';!1-#+#5'%!$!;-#')$/''9# (23%). (Bahanovich & Collopy 2009) This fact that it is considered an illegal activity artists not getting paid (27%) than the state that they are more worried about $.'%-#6.'#2-&2+!"#&2',#!//-3+/#0/-#%.+2!"3# at least a weekly basis. Curiously enough, technologies, out of which 83% do so on percent download music illegally via P2P from a music CD to another device. 61% 14-24 year old UK youths have copied data fortshire shows that 97% of the surveyed by UK Music and the University of Hert logic of digital replicability. A 2009 report adapted, albeit often unconsciously, to the of internet users have almost naturally that not only netlabels, but the majority !$=#'&#/-3+/#+"1#!//-3+/#0/-#%.+2!"3#%.'6%# applicability by legal means, the prosper ply and demand and try to perpetuate its economy still cling to the concept of sup many entrepreneurs in the post-fordist they are the solution.” (Rosen 2010) While will try to preserve the problem to which Shirky frames it so aptly: “Institutions 2004, Demers 2006, Sell 2008). As Clay Kelly’s statement hints towards the they are free.” age, these copies are not just cheap, duced reproductions of the machine river of copies. Unlike the mass-pro The digital economy is thus run on a any computer is copied somewhere. Every bit of data ever produced on along the way several times. […] that the whole message be copied protocols of communication demand corner of the internet to another, the In order to send a message from one “The internet is a copy machine. […] - - - - -

10 P O O L October 2011 x x x a mere consumer: incidentally reduces the political subject to the capitalist imperative. In doing so, he only way to induce change is to bow to countermovement by suggesting that the have abandoned the idea of an autonomous sibility for political resistance. He seems to only as an economic issue, but also a pos Henry Jenkins, this contact point is not the user base of a given service away. For be balanced carefully in order not to scare what is free and what is premium have to “commodity”, the arbitrary decisions on their reliance on this scarce and unstable that might consume it” (40-41) Considering the overabundance of information sources +//'(+$-#$.+$#+$$-"$!'"#-&0(!-"$/=#+,'"3# ates a poverty of attention and a need to 1971 that “a wealth of information cre buy them back. free functionalities, requiring the users to to a service and then remove previously to wait for the users to become acquainted insidious, but still very popular strategy is user base has been established. A more $.-%-#+11!$!'"+/#&-+$)2-%#+&$-2#+#%!3"!0(+"$# vice starts out entirely free and introduces premium account. It is common that a ser can only be enabled by upgrading to a paid provided for free, while certain features that the core functionality of a service is “free” and “premium”. Usually this means as “freemium”, a portmanteau of the words business model that has come to be known ers. These demos are usually shared among presentations (demos) with home comput cians who create real-time audio-visual programmers, graphic designers and musi refers to an international collective of 2005, Michels 2009). The term (Röttgers 2003, Hartmann 2004, Timmers +"1*#,'2-#%5-(!0(+//=*#$.-#$2+(9-2#%(-"-# the online music groups of the demoscene stated that netlabels have emerged from cations about the phenomenon, it is often Herbert Herbert Simon noted as early as In the few published scholarly publi ROOT TRACING consumers.” (Jenkins 2006: 260) ing and the ways they relate to their change the products they are creat that we are pressuring companies to collaboration. […] The new model is give way to one focused on tactical A politics of confrontation must people inside the media industry. if we are not on speaking terms with “we can’t change much of anything ------sharing of digital data […] “digital subcultures”: demoscene’s pioneering aspects regarding 2-3) summarises what he considers the without restrictions. Ville Heikkilä (2009: (+"#$.-2-&'2-#7-#+"+/=%-1#+"1#,'1!0-1# (',5'%!$!'"#('"$+!"-1#6!$.!"#+#,'1)/-#0/-# '2!3!"+/#%+,5/-#0/-%#+2-#52-%-2;-1A#P.-# ,'1)/-#0/-%*#+//#-1!$!"3#(+5+7!/!$!-%#+"1#$.-# its derivatives is their accessibility: within particular quality of the format and due to their support for audio samples. A ter enjoyed widespread popularity, partly XYZ*#.+;-#52-(-1-1#,'1)/-#0/-%*#$.-#/+$ such as the SID format on the Commodore '$.-2*#'&$-"#5/+$&'2,#%5-(!0(#&'2,+$%*# '&#%'E(+//-1#,'1)/-#0/-%A#F/$.')3.#%-;-2+/# for the playback, creation and manipulation @8W#0/-#&'2,+$A#P2+(9-2#%'&$6+2-#+//'6%# Amiga platform and has established the which was written for the Commodore 1987 software “Ultimate Soundtracker”, that originated from Karsten Obarski’s Trackers are a breed of music applications the collective in a non-commercial manner. “cracking” and “swapping”, intentionally of software (predominantly videogame) having its roots in the illegal practices (2010: 3-4) states that the demoscene, its internal structure. Markku Reunanen closed “community”, primarily focused on structure, can be seen as a more or less latter, at least in its earlier organisational netlabel culture with the demoscene. The that should be considered when collating However, there are some important factors provide sample collections to the public. netlabels put on remix competitions or sampling, are also common practice—many existing works, in the form of remixing and releases. Alterations and appropriations of ers, who mostly supply cover artworks for labels cross-pollinate with graphic design '"#$.-#1!%$2!7)$!'"#'&#,)%!(#0/-%*#,'%$#"-$ other channels. Although the main focus is tion of their releases via P2P networks and they generally encourage the dissemina 1!%$2!7)$!'"#'&#('5=2!3.$#52'$-($-1#0/-%*# While netlabels do not engage in the illegal indeed applies to netlabels quite accurately. culture by way of generalisations, this list portray either the demoscene or netlabel one’s own creations games and other creative digital works in non-commercial digital sharing […] art primarily or even exclusively for free * creating music and other types of * global unrestricted peer-to-peer Although it would be misguided to * using elements taken from video - - - -

11 P O O L October 2011 x x x 7=#2-('"03)2!"3#$.-#;!1-'#('E52'(-%%'2# number of visual tricks could be achieved as, for example, the Amiga 500, where a written for more restricted platforms, such for. This is especially apparent in demos the computing platform they were designed are characteristic of, or even exclusive to !0(!$=A#W-,'%#'&$-"#-45/'!$#52'5-2$!-%#$.+$# tied to the modernist idea of medium-spec ally, the demoscene’s approach is closely expertise. (cf. Lachmann 1988) Tradition by a combination of artistic and technical within a community is likewise constituted where the prime motive of gaining “fame” '&?!"-#%)7()/$)2-%*#%)(.#+%#[2+&0$!#62!$!"3*# say that there are similarities with certain programming are quintessential. One could technical skills involved in sound and video the evaluation of a demo, the quality of the all style of the presentation, are integral to While aesthetical aspects, such as the over competitive character is equally present. moval (Rehn: 364). In the demoscene, this under the premises of copy protection re piece of software, written predominantly “patch”, “keygen” or similar, packaged “release”, meaning a cracked program, !"3#$.-#02%$#32')5#$'#1!%$2!7)$-#+#%'E(+//-1# case of the , this involves be productivity within the “scene”. In the battle for recognition, which leads to great groups. These groups engage in a constant software) and the demoscene to organise in scene (the community dealing with pirated visibility. It is common for both the warez chose to remain outside of mainstream Programming Programming Ensemble frames it: grammer Joseph P. Beuckman of the Beige comm., 13 August). As the artist and pro waveform type (D. Espenschied 2010, pers. chip’s envelope generator is used as a new technique on the Atari ST, where the sound would be the “Hardwave”, a CPU saving that deal with the hardware. An example tional techniques, this also involves tricks ment with its limitations. Besides composi given technology and a creative engage involves a thorough understanding of the complex music for such platforms therefore voices simultaneously. Writing rich and in the Atari ST merely three separate Amiga computers can play four, the ones (Heikkilä 2009: 6) The sound chips in <-#1'"K$#6+"$#$'#7)!/1#+#?+$#6.!$-# (+";+%#$.+$#!"?)-"(-#6.+$#6-#,+9-A# ties, shapes and architectures like a faces. Computers have personali proprietary ‘anything goes’ inter level -before corporations write their “We’re interested at the hardware ------kind of cognitive and aesthetic investment. YT^#5'!"$%#')$*#@\]#0/-%#!"1--1#2-_)!2-#+# contents. However, as Andersson (2010: rather than a creative engagement with its a format that encourages its consumption, '-('21-1#%')"1A#F$#02%$#3/+"(-*#@\]#!%# media players and may contain any kind are compatible with a wider range of manipulability of the composition, while the aforementioned transparency and ('"(-5$%#'&#'5-""-%%A#@'1)/-#0/-%#&-+$)2-# 0/-%*#6-#+2-#52-%-"$-1#6!$.#$6'#1!&&-2-"$# &'2,+$A#<.-"#'55'%!"3#,'1)/-#0/-%#$'#@\]# recently, the lossless (open-source) FLAC popular (proprietary) MP3 codec and, more to audio compression formats, such as the majority of contemporary netlabels resort 1!1#!"!$!+//=#1!%$2!7)$-#,'1)/-#0/-%*#$.-#;+%$# some early Netlabels such as monotonik embraced by the music industry. While Winamp or VLC, the format has never been emulators or media players such as back on modern computers using either engage with music: acts on the way we perceive, organise and most importantly, a cultural artefact that nological artefact, but also, and perhaps Sterne notes, the MP3 is not simply a tech enables critical discourse and analysis. As minism, but rather as a perspective that seen here as a form of technological deter ('"(-5$#'&#,-1!),E%5-(!0(!$=#%.')/1#$'#7-# today’s digital artists and creatives. The surrounding that is rarely present among create an awareness of their technological ,-1!),E%5-(!0(#52+($!(-%#'&#$.-#1-,'%(-"-# of a registrar. The point here is that the 0//!"3#52'(-%%-%*#2-,!"!%(-"$#'&#$.-#$+%9%# to be primarily of an archival type—form On the other hand, these activities seem $.-#('"$-"$#!"#$.-#02%$#5/+(-AS#:!7!1NYT^# $!'"%#+"1#+($!;-#%-+2(.#_)-2!-%#&'2#0"1!"3# “tagging, browsing, indexing, recommenda format and, on a more general level, the tion of ID3 metadata embedded in the This includes the creation and manipula F/$.')3.#,'1)/-#0/-%#(+"#7-#5/+=-1# Davis & Beuckman 2001) features of the machine.” (Arcangel, surface over that and ignore the moral calling: ‘Eliminate redundan the technology; they are its highest not aberrant uses or an error in primary, illegal uses of the are it does what it was made to do. The execute a process on its contents, container technology designed to and massive accumulation. As a massive exchange, casual listening “The mp3 is a form designed for - - - - -

12 P O O L October 2011 x x x Creative Commons (CC) licenses. Indeed, element in netlabels’ widespread use of community and sees the main connecting (2004) portrays the netlabel scene as a network approach. However, Hartmann an entrepreneurial than an underground labels appears to be more characterised by model, the organisational structure of net Despite the lack of a substantial revenue $.-#52-;!')%#('"03)2+$!'"#:`-)"+"-"N#Z^A# that has only played a marginal role in premises these aspects relate to a market the demoscene, but rather under which about how far netlabels share aspects with online public. The question seems to be less music predominantly to an anonymous munity”, whereas netlabels distribute their ily circulated among members of a “com '7%-2;-#$.+$#!"#$.-#1-,'%(-"-#0/-%#52!,+2 petitive music markets. In analogy, we can !$#&)/0/%#$.-#5'$-"$!+/#$'#!"$-32+$-#6!$.#(', a wider variety of platforms but also that only that the music can be played back on sumer standard audio formats means not 0/-#&'2,+$%#'&#$.-#$2+(9-2#%(-"-#$'#('" $.-#$2+"%!$!'"#&2',#$.-#5/+$&'2,E%5-(!0(# are preserved and which ones are waived. author of a work to determine which rights of default copyright, thus enabling the certain features from the legal framework CC licenses rather allow for the stripping of therefore do not oppose the concept of IP. copyright—they are based on copyright and do not function as a true alternative to sion is that Creative Commons licenses ,)"!$=#!%#&2+)3.$#6!$.#1!&0()/$!-%A single-handedly constitutes a netlabel com widespread use of these licensing schemes 2007. However, the assumption that the 65 newly founded labels in both 2005 and had almost tripled to 29 and culminated in (Creative Commons n.d. a), this number $.-#02%$#XX#/!(-"%-%#!"#W-(-,7-2#TUUT# following year, after the introduction of establishment of ten new netlabels. In the (2009:2) research, the year 2002 saw the netlabel culture. According to Galuszka’s of CC licenses has had a major impact on there is evidence that the introduction ONE LICENSE TO RULE THEM ALL From a more economic perspective, A point that often causes confu 2006: 838) distracted listening subject!’” (Sterne drives of the middle class! Address a little effort! Accumulate on the hard great distances frequently and with cies! Reduce bandwidth use! Travel ------involves modifying copyright in a way the conditions of the FSD are met. This egy known as “copyleft” to ensure that precondition for this. changes. Access to the source code is a (',,)"!$=#+#(.+"(-#$'#7-"-0$#&2',#=')2# 3). By doing this you can give the whole =')2#,'1!0-1#;-2%!'"%#$'#'$.-2%#:&2--1',# so you can help your neighbor (freedom 2). source code is a precondition for this. what you wish (freedom 1). Access to the program works, and change it to make it do for any purpose (freedom 0). 1-0"!$!'"#:GQW^N Richard Stallman’s (2010) to be free. These rights are determined in software has to grant to the public in order +#(/-+2#1-0"!$!'"#'&#$.-#2!3.$%#+#5!-(-#'&# and similar licenses are designed to match such as the GNU GPL. However, the GPL those used by the free software movement, This makes CC licenses comparable to ness with respect to the access, distribu seeks to ensure a maximum degree of open makes these references because the FSD three and four of the FSD. Arguably, he “neighbor” and “community” in points position. CC sets no such standard.” software’s success is built upon an ethical "'#2!3.$%*#+"1#"'#04-1#_)+/!$!-%A#G2--# 1-0"-1#/!,!$%#+"1#52',!%-%#"'#&2--1',%*# the free software movement, CC sets no learn from and build upon the example of notes that “despite CC’s stated desire to can be freely combined. Mako Hill (2005) be granted or negated. they Furthermore, works. All of these stipulations can either and if they permit the creation derivative cially, whether they request attribution whether their work may be used commer the Share-Alike clause, users can decide concept of intellectual property. Apart from in a fuzzy, unsettled perspective on the ible, licensing features that CC offers result nd. b), the number of other, often incompat governs [the] work” (Creative Commons under a license identical to the license that others to distribute derivative works only _)+/!0-%#+%#R('5=/-&$S#!"#$.+$#!$#R+//'6a%b# versions. While the CC Share-Alike license these rights are preserved in all derivative a work, with the added requirement that 1!%$2!7)$-#('5!-%#+"1#,'1!0-1#;-2%!'"%#'&# that enables the non-exclusive rights to Free software licenses use a strat * The freedom to distribute copies of * The freedom to redistribute copies * The freedom to study how the * The freedom to run the program, Note Stallman’s use of the words - - - - -

13 P O O L October 2011 x x x copyright on the notation, which is cur the (blank) scoresheet. Indeed, there is a creator of the concept and the owner of owner? One could reply that Cage is the silence. Who is the creator here, who is the four minutes and thirty-three seconds of composition 4’33”, a piece consisting of from view. Take, for example John Cage’s ship and intellectual property might slip tions concerning the concepts of author +#6-//E1-0"-1#-$.!(+/#5'%!$!'"*#9-=#_)-% are bad or useless, but rather that without not mean that Creative Commons licenses techniques that oneself utilises. This does others from applying the same production sic. Such an act would obviously prevent from copyright protected, commercial mu for a composition that samples extensively a Non-Commercial No Derivatives license licenses. An example would be the use of +27!$2+2=*#)"2-?-($-1#+55/!(+$!'"#'&#XX# tures” (Mako Hill 2005) often leads to an “hodge-podge of pick-and-choose […] fea towards a mere “gratis”. In addition, the from the idea of a musical public domain carries the notion of “free music” away pick among netlabels (Galuszka 2009:8), mercial use, is by far the most popular suggests, prohibits remixing and com No Derivatives license, which, as the name fact that the Attribution Non-Commercial thing is better than default copyright”. The claim CC makes could be framed as “any +"1#&2--1',%A#I"#('"$2+%$*#$.-#'"/=#1-0"!$-# every member of the public the same rights $!'"#+"1#,'1!0(+$!'"#'&#%'&$6+2-*#32+"$!"3# her creative work is used. However, such a the freedom of the individual to decide how standing of freedom—one that focuses on motes a different, more restricted under Property. piece ridicules the concept of Intellectual performer themselves into listeners, Cage’s mance and transforming the composer and removing the indexical cue from the perfor nises the sheer inexistence of silence. By mode of performative listening that recog se, but rather the use of silence to enable a tion, which is not the idea of silence per tion about the artistic value of the composi There seems to exists a gross misconcep musician Mike Batt in 2002 (BBC News). !"#+#/+6%)!$#c1!$!'"#\-$-2%#0/-1#+3+!"%$#$.-# recording of silence! This is demonstrated ing of 4’33”–that is, the performance and the rights to the performance and record Edition Peters also believes that it owns Edition Peters. The disturbing part is that rently owned by the sheet music publisher It could be contended that CC pro ------run run an internet portal, forum or virtual Galuszka’s study, 24% of his respondents discursive environments. According to remains, how netlabels can establish vital requires in-depth dedication, the question constitute but one matter of debate that political implications of licensing schemes in the culture and media sector”. While the “pervasive success of neo-liberal values […] production has to be traced back to the “decline of political antagonism” in cultural (2002: 522-523) puts forward that the and women.” In a similar vein, McRobbie back to the responsibility of individual men of previously socialized responsibilities and policing, relegating an ever larger set explicitly social […] patterning, supervision of human conduct have been released from (2007: 89) notes that “Ever larger chunks what he calls “liquid modernity”, Bauman fragmented (cf. Denegri-Knott 2004). In values and discursive action are highly netlabels, but at the same time normative observe cooperations and alliances among der the banner of CC. Undeniably, one can ity of any substantial social movement un position rather emphasises the impossibil has failed to scale up: of a netlabel “scene”, but criticises that it 6 September) acknowledges the existence murder.com. Spillutini (2010, pers. comm., lutini, head of Vienna/Berlin based Beatis concept of a “community”: among netlabels and openly rejects the ial stance. He sees no need for exchange 2008) takes up a pragmatic, entrepreneur based netlabel Open Music ( founded in Barry Prendergast, director of Brighton directors (cf. Appendix B). As an example, with a number of international netlabel of the interviews the author has conducted 2+$.-2#+,7!3)')%A#P.!%#!%#2-?-($-1#!"#%',-# the combination of these terms remains $.!%#0"1!"3A#

14 P O O L October 2011 x x x try try has failed to adapt to technological and agree on: that the traditional music indus is one point that almost all interviewees discourse within netlabel culture, there ment. Spillutini’s desire to partake in a move cit.), a necessity that corresponds with to “remain in contact with the world” (op reference points are to be seen as means economy, but politics and culture. These points for everybody” does not address ever, Diederichsen’s claim for “reference outperforming the industry’s big hits. How (cf. Page & Garland 2009)—is still far from the music market—provided it exists at all since the Long Tail (Anderson 2004) of tive, this is nothing to worry about yet, experience.” From an economic perspec would be no public realm and no aesthetic be an entropic horror—one in which there sists of nothing but niche production would hypothesises that “an economy that con audiences, Diedrich Diederichsen (2010) production that cater for equally niche sense of alternative centres of cultural could be proposed as an advantage, in the !"3#+3+!"%$#$.-#(',,'1!0(+$!'"#'!3!$+/# type of digital anarcho-communism resist portrays the high-tech gift economy as a as the “high-tech gift economy”. Barbrook of economic system, one that he refers to change rather constitutes a different kind (1999) has argued that this type of ex (Bollier 2003, Hartmann 2004), Barbrook that occurs outside of economic contexts sharing of digital artifacts is something While some claim that the non-commercial ing autonomous from the music industry. netlabels conceive of themselves as be networks, it seems rather strange that 1999) than with community based online entrepreneurial-ism” (Leadbeater & Oakley with some kind of avant-garde “cultural that netlabels probably share more aspects comm., ). If we stick to the assumption dez, M. Subjex, PK, E. Phizmiz, 2010, pers. happy to see “the industry” die (A. Fernan subject and claim that they would be very it. Some share a very cynical view on the social change and now has to suffer for While the “nerdy niche” existence Despite the fragmented political NEW NEW ECONOMY +"=#$.+$#6')/1#0$AS movement though. I just don’t know ‘scene’. I wish I could feel part of a but I’m no longer really active in the on. I’m still releasing netlabel stuff, ------stating that: He makes a point of crucial importance in tion from the symbolic to a material level. discussion about the politics of participa emphasised by Pasquinelli, who shifts the capitalism as a whole.” (2004: 77) This is reproduction of the labour force in late is itself an important force within the part of a larger informational economy, from capitalism, for “the gift economy, as weight on the gift economy’s autonomy that Barbrook’s concept puts too much and the state (ibid: 138), Terranova argues mised” by interests of corporate capital purity of the digital DIY culture is compro omy’ is a mixed economy” and that “the Although he realises that “the ‘new econ how radical is this type of gift economy? artefacts by the market economy. But just band Scritti Politti took this concept one or anything like that”. A year later, the of a large record company, or a contract, record… [that] you didn’t need the backing that anybody could go ahead and make a states that they made the record “to show the documentary, a member of the group and produce your own at minimal costs. In single’s cover that explained how to record band printed an instruction manual on the mystify the record production process, the Desperate Bicycles. With the goal to de $.-#%!"3/-#Q,'9-%(2--"#7=#5)"9#')$0$# movement. In 1977, Rough Trade released perspective of the 1970s punk and DIY tures of the music industry from the the against struggle the hegemonic struc independent label Rough Trade portrays record store, distribution company and the globalised information economy. look at the way resistance worked prior to tion, it makes sense to take a step back and regeneration? In order to tackle this ques bedded within it, but also perpetuating its perceived counter-practice is not only em adversarial organisational structure, if the question: How can one possibly resist an They urge us to reframe the introductory A recent BBC documentary on the These statements are staggering. Barcelona lifestyle and real estate ADSL, free music and live concerts, $6--"#@\]#0/-%#+"1#!\'1%*#\T\#+"1# the combinatory relationship be exchanged. Obvious examples include counterpart where the big money is economies have a material, parallel “all the immaterial (and gift) shops.” (Pasquinelli 2007: 80) $2!0(+$!'"*#3/'7+/#72+"1%#+"1#%6-+$ speculation, the art world and gen ------

15 P O O L October 2011 x x x we should ask about its wider implica a kind of anarcho-communism for granted, that the high-tech gift economy promotes networks. If we take Barbrook’s argument tion of cultural production within digital path if we strive for a critical examina utopian promises lead us up the garden ity will follow. Of course, such simplistic non alienated creative and cultural activ tion and distribution of music, autonomous, technologies have democratised the crea enemy is gutted and digital information propose that now that the institutionalised won the battle. A hasty judgement could it might seem like the DIY activists have the production and publication of music, companies have become dispensable for studios, vinyl plants and distribution and the fact that professional recording record industry suffering from huge losses labour and creative energy. and the associated exploitation of artists’ corporate monopoly of the big record labels lematic to discern the antagonist as the business. Back then, it was rather unprob democratisation of the music publishing %$2'"3.'/1#&'2#WIL#+($!;!%$%#03.$!"3#&'2#$.-# "-2%#:'&&-2!"3#0&$=E0&$=#1-+/%^*#%-2;-1#+%#+# ethos that treated artists as equal part punk coupled background, with a business $.-#02%$#!"1-5-"1-"$#2-('21#/+7-/*#$.-!2# Although Rough Trade was by no means record Skank Bloc Bologna. (BBC 2010) production costs on the sleeve of their 7” step further, by listing the recording and (Berardi 2009: 37-38) from the social essence of human being. which results in the worker’s “alienation” (+5!$+/!%$#52'1)($!'"#7-(',-%#'7D-($!0-1*# beings”. Marx argues that labour within .),+"#7-!"3%#+2-#02%$#+"1#&'2-,'%$#R%'(!+/# ity, suggesting that in their “pure” form, Marx advances an idealist view on human “alienation”. In his early Manuscripts, Italian autonomists is Marx’s concept of a material plane. A crucial concept for the tions, not just on a symbolic, but also on But now, in light of the traditional P.!%#(',,'1!0(+$!'"#'&#/+7')2#!$%-/&*# (Marx 1844) of monopoly in a more terrible form” few hands, and thus the restoration is the accumulation of capital in a the necessary result of competition magnitude of his production; that inverse proportion to the power and the wretchedness of the worker is in most wretched of commodities; that commodity and becomes indeed the “the worker sinks to the level of a ------extracts commercial value, where it was widened its scope. It now produces and by Adorno and Horkheimer (1987), has '&#<-7#TAU*#$.-#()/$)2-#!"1)%$2=*#+%#1-0"-1# are social networking services. In the age leisure time. A prime example for this shift binary distinction between work and of work results in the liquefaction of the This pervasion of language into the world fordist labour is loquacious (2001: 181). that factory labour is mute, while post- manual labour. Paolo Virno emphasises more and more by linguistic, rather than industries are consequently being shaped 2009: 74-76). The creative and cultural of signs, or semiotic fragments (Berardi through the creation and manipulation abstract kind, inasmuch as it creates value the commodity”. This type of labour is of an the informational and cultural content of M]]^#1-0"-%#+%#R$.-#/+7'2#$.+$#52'1)(-%# immaterial labour, which Lazzarato (2006: ties, work is increasingly characterised by work. However, in postindustrial socie &2',#0"1!"3#5/-+%)2-#+"1#&)/0/,-"$#!"# mere worker being, deprives the human which transforms the social being into a life and, in turn, all of social life is put to 10) deduces that “Labor produces social economic shifts, Christian Marazzi (2008: 199). is an example of a lack of integrity” (ibid: “Having two [online] identities for yourself (Kirkpatrick 2010: 288), and further, that better-governed world and a fairer world” that “A more transparent world creates a social networking application, proclaims berg, the founder of the most successful especially awkward when Mark Zucker +"1#2-0"-1#,'"!$'2!"3#&-+$)2-%A#P.!%#&--/%# back to the users in form of advertisement In return, the fruits of this labour are fed via comprehensive surveillance networks. untary social interaction into free labour their protocols are written to exploit vol The open secret of these companies is that 02%$#5/+(-#$'#(',,'1!&=#$.!%#5-2&'2,+"(-A# lated by software that was designed in the mance within these applications is regu unaware that their communicative perfor with personal information, they are often offered by Facebook, Myspace, Last.fm etc. feeding the databases of the “free” services spend hours of their alleged leisure time ing platforms for creation.” While users creating content for consumption to provid “the cultural industries are shifting from tory culture. As Schäfer (2008:216) notes, previously not thought to inhere: participa With reference to these substantial ------

16 P O O L October 2011 x x x cerned with questions about the interplay gineers and system administrators con 1-0"-%#+%#$-(.#%+;;=#52'32+,,-2%*#-" In his analysis of geeks, who he roughly an imagined reality of political resistance. “social imaginary” (cf. Taylor 2004: 23), work is less a utopian aspiration than a that Subjex’s “impression” of non-alienated emblem par excellence”. One could argue modernity, and the artist’s creativity is the the major utopian aspiration in capitalist that “Nonalienated activity is, of course, and “œuvrer”, the latter implying that: between the French notions of “travailler” social activity from work by differentiating who seems to be able to clearly tell apart France based netlabel Bedroom Research, spective by Matt Subjex, director of Lille, work”. This radical view is put into per appears like a promising path to elude the own concept of a “recursive public”: tion of the social imaginary as a tool for his (2005: 201-202) Kelty employs Taylor’s no and make it the basis of political action.” get other people to share this imaginary or in code—but it also implies the need to imagine another world—whether in speech social imaginary references the freedom to net, Christopher Kelty asserts that “The between technology, politics and the inter George Yudice (2003: 331) writes Kelty’s model of a “recursive public” 2008: 3) tually existing alternatives.” (Kelty power through the production of ac of speaking to existing forms of of constituted power and is capable collective independent of other forms its own existence as a public; it is a practical, and conceptual means of ,'1!0(+$!'"#'&#$.-#$-(."!(+/*#/-3+/*# rial and practical maintenance and is vitally concerned with the mate “A recursive public is a public that comm., 31 August) nation relationships” (2010, pers. of the regular market crap and domi have the ‘impression’ of working out some common values. You may also and interesting people often sharing their universe […] you meet nice $)"-%*#)"0"!%.-1#$)"-%*#1!;-#!"$'# to be in touch with artists, get their of the ‘fans’. It’s very interesting music and the reward is the support I am committed to a certain idea of and things like that. I do it because capitalization, climbing hierarchies purpose is not personal enrichment, “There’s some work done, but its ------an ethics of responsibility. ised by sustainable business practices and is to create an economy that is character the wider public sphere. Ultimately the goal focus on its own existence and permeate tions that eventually overcome the inward cursive public provides the bedrock for ac text. It is much to be hoped that such a re with the topics I have addressed in this critical discourse and material engagement as a way to create a structure that enables a public—not as an end in itself, but rather should strive towards the creation of such less, I would like to suggest that netlabels as existing on a separate plane. Neverthe and political life can simply be imagined er relations that shape and condition social power that proposes that the complex pow .'6-;-2*#1!&0()/$#$'#+((-5$#+#('"(-5$!'"#'&# collapse of political representation. It is, BIBLIOGRAPHY

how-free-is-free-netlabels-and-the- http://pooool.info/uncategorized/ See: politics-of-online-music-distribution/ - - - - -

17 P O O L October 2011 x x x ous pages. radiating its quaint warmth from the previ in 1974. It was later digitized and is now American Typewriter for phototypesetting Kaden and Tony Stan designed the typeface USA. Samuel W. Soule in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, pher Latham Sholes, Carlos Glidden and board) was invented in 1868 by Christo typewriter (as well as the QWERTY key P.-#02%$#(',,-2(!+//=#%)((-%%&)/# Colophon – Rasmus Svensson Based on these lettershapes, Joel - - - on one another. their cultural, societal and political impact 7-$6--"#'"/!"-#+"1#'&?!"-#2-+/!$!-%#+"1# expanding and improving the discourse http://pooool.info/ Pool is a platform dedicated to

18 P O O L October 2011