Copies
Kevin Kelly posted his instant-classic Better Than Free in early ’08. The essay’s chief concern is the market economics of an increasingly open internet culture. But it’s also a worthwhile read for forward-looking print artists; I sometimes reference this essay when discussing the “original multiple” with my students. It’s important to make clear connections between today’s communication revolution and those of the past.
Most of the conclusions are tangential to printmaking, but Kelly begins with highly relevant premises:
The internet is a copy machine… Unlike the mass-produced reproductions of the machine age, these copies are not just cheap, they are free.
When copies are super abundant, they become worthless… When copies are super abundant, stuff which can’t be copied becomes scarce and valuable.
When copies are free, you need to sell things which can not be copied.
Kelly proceeds to outline a series of “uncopyable values,” or generatives, qualities that are “better than free.” Not all of these attributes are necessarily relevant to the traditional printmaking purist; however, all are of significance to contemporary print artists.
Foremost among these uncopyable values, for our community, may be authenticity. In this section, Kelly explicitly references art prints and photography, although he seems to misunderstand our own presumptions about the authenticity of the original multiple:
Graphic reproductions such as photographs and lithographs often come with the artist’s stamp of authenticity — a signature — to raise the price of the copy.
But even this slip-up raises a key concern for any contemporary print artist who prizes the authenticity of the original print. As technology makes copies cheaper and better, there may be a corresponding shift in cultural attitudes that makes copies seem more authentic, as well.
On the other hand, those students I mentioned usually understand the inherent worth of the original, handmade print. Actually, I believe their understanding is only enhanced by the fact that they all have desktop inkjet printers capable of producing beautiful images.
Bookmark / Share / Print