POWER TO THE PEOPLE!!

'When a powerful perpetrator attacks a weak target, many people feel this is unjust.Their outrage can be reduced when they believe fairness is being ensured by bodies; such as ombudsmen, courts or expert panels.'

 (Moore, M.B. et al., 2010)

Due to the flow of media and information, it is now easy for everyone who has access to the Internet to contribute with files. “I find it positive for the industry (academics) with file sharing”, Professor Wallis says. He believes it promotes knowledge all over the World. (Klose,2013, 0:20:13 – 0:23:17).

In 2009 The Pirate Bay (TPB) was held to court for breaking the copyright law. The site was the World’s biggest P2P file sharing system (Schoeder, 2009). What the government missed out: Everyone was guilty.

Warner Brothers, Columbia, 20th Century Fox and MGM were the main prosecutors in the trial. As their economy is sweating, the companies are desperate for someone to blame. The US government even threatened Sweden with trade sanctions, if TPB was not shut down (TPB AFK, 0:02:00 – 0:02:03)!!

The Pirate Bay logo

According to Peter Sunde; 'the problem is that old people are running the companies. They know how to make money before and they do not want to change'. Maybe he is right. As many other media related businesses, you need to compete with every citizen and think creatively, in order to win back market. Journalist Dan Gillmor points out: 'When anyone can be journalists, many talented people will try – and the’ll find things the professional miss' (2006, 25).

Are these 'old people' in denial? Well, I can see the problem with the income, but this is how globalisation has made it possible for everyone to contribute. We need to accept it – it has gotten out of anyone’s control.

Peter Sunde among many others came up with an idea: donation! Either way, your work will be copied – and this I believe covers almost every genre, so why not ask for credit, instead of forcing it and get none? The term crowdfunding covers it.

The future?

Bib:

Martin, B, Moore, C and Salter, C. 2010, ‘Sharing music files: tactics of a challenge to the industry’, First Monday, vol. 15, no. 12

Klose, S, 2013, TPB AFK: The Pirate Bay Away From Keyboard, Doc, Sweden, Nonami

Gillmor, D 2006, We The Media: Rise of Citizen Journalism, Dan Gillmor on grassroots journalism by the people, for the people, O'Reilly Media


Schoeder, S. 2009, 'TPB Trial: Guilty as charged', Mashable, NY

THE AUSSIE BIN TRADITION

The everyday art due to globalisation?

Even though I study multi-media design, everyday designs have always fascinated my mind. Why should the bin only look nice in the kitchen, without being help full? I ask myself this question every time I need to use it here in my house in Melbourne. Back in Denmark the bin never got my attention.

Back in the 1930's the modernism truly made it through in Denmark due to globalisation as J. Nederveen Pieterse put's it; globalization is being shaped by technological changes (2004, 8).

The art genre forwarded the idea of functionality, due to new technologies in materials by Europe and USA (Gordon, J.S. 2013). Danish architects got inspired by Germany and France where the modernism had blossomed in more than 10 years due to Bauhaus, which philosophy represents the aspect of modernism (Lovejoy, M. 2004, 42).   

Modernism changed my everyday life, due to Holger Nielsen and his design of Vipp. It is a bin. Believe it. 

Vipp combines the functionality by being a pedal bin with the aesthetic and minimalistic design. It awakes the feeling of beauty when you look at it, and helps you, when your hands are felt with rubbish. Beautiful. 

The story of my Australian bin? Not so fantastic:

• You have to use your hand to open it. 
• The lid does not stay on to the can; you need to put it somewhere. 
• It does not fit the regular sizes of bags you buy in the supermarket.  
• It is made by thin steel and makes big noises, when you close it.   
• The design is not the most divine (I know this is subjective, but it must be said!).

Now this bin is just an example. I have been thinking about this a lot since I arrived 'down under'. Australians simply choose between functionality and design! I asked my housemates about it, and they actually could not tell me wrong.

I can't help thinking: "Did Australia miss out the movement of modernism?" I believe my bin in the kitchen does not match Lovejoy's definition of modernism; 'an abstract, aesthetic pure form connected to the function of the object' (2004, 42). 

The two rivals

Bib:

Lovejoy, m, 2005, 'Digital Currents: Art in the Electronic Age', 3rd. edition, Routledge, New York

Nederveen Pieterse, J 2004, ‘Globalization: consensus and controversies’, Globalization and culture: global mélange, Rowan & Littlefield, Lanham, Md.