[-empyre-] The Art of Self-Sabotage

[Saul Albert]

Hi Empyrians,

The discussions so far have highlighted the many binds and traps of the
pirate ethos in relation to intellectual property. Every renunciation of
ownership stakes a claim of a different order, easily captured.

Almost a decade(!) ago I was a member of an unwieldy collective that
assembled texts in this context on a number of wikis - the texts took
the form of a series of semi-fictional dystopian missives, for example:
http://www.metamute.org/en/Freemasons-Of-The-Future
http://www.metamute.org/?q=en/Commercial-Commons

The theories expounded, like Borgesian myths, acted as an atmospheric
background. In this case, in my foreground was the experience collective
writing; becoming a group that formed, deformed, stretched itself around
the game of authorship, sometimes snapping back into recognisable
economic orders, dissipating into welcome obscurity. 

This year I was reminded of this game of authorship when making a short
film with Nathaniel Mann about the Danish group SYGNOK, and their art
star Goodiepal's 'War for Radical Computer Music'.

http://vimeo.com/19593647

It's only 15 minutes long. Have a look.

SYGNOK use every trick in the book to maneuver around the mechanisms of
capture in their cultural and commercial environment: intervention,
aesthetic shock, copyleft, forgery, theft, as well as exquisite clarity
of expression and an almost absurd commitment to high production values.

But to expand on the phrase you picked up Magnus 'melting away', what
keeps their piratical activities in a constant state of creative tension
is the fact that they pirate each other constantly. Their collaboration
is in a constant state of self-sabotage, which is far more virulent and
fickle than any of the mechanisms of capture they encounter.

Thinking back to earlier discussions about the pirate ethos as a
strategy for circumventing propertarian attitudes to knowledge, culture
and creativity, this seems like a critical aspect of pirate practice.

As Heath Bunting, a prolific self-saboteur once put it 'Own, be owned or
remain invisible'.

Cheers,

Saul.

-- 
mob: +44(0)7941255210 / @saul 
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