RE: [-empyre-] copyright - tariffs

["Cristiano Bianchi" <cristianobianchi@yahoo.com>]

melinda:
> -maybe we are the ones clinging onto a romantic ideal that 
> society should provide for us as we provide culture.. which 
> is never really going to be an option in australia as our 
> main stream cultural  heros are sports people, not artists or 
> philospheres. i think there is a different reality in western 
> and northern european countries where the arts are really 
> well supported and funded.

What? I know fairly well the realities of Italy and UK. Sports make
money, therefore David Beckham (Posh Spice's husband :-|...) and Roberto
Baggio are the only 'artists' worth investing in. Ok, to be fair, there
is loads of support for the arts in UK, which means that lots of crap
gets funded, but at least there is room and nourishment for the true
little flowers to blossom. Amidst a pile of rubbish, because, let's face
it, very few in the art establishment are able to recognise the
difference between art and craft (or lack of one or both of the above).
Not so much funding though for what you here call 'net.art' (I have a
problem in adding adjectives or anything to 'art', so I won't understand
that term). People seem to have concerns regarding 'prints' as true form
of art, when they read '4/50' at the bottom of a picture. And that has
at least the comfort of a limited series. But the infinite
reproductivity without loss of quality or originality is yet another
issue I understand traditional buyers or funders may have a problem
with. At least a Picasso doesn't crash.

Cristiano