[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
adonnaM.mp3 - File Sharing, the Hidden Revolution in the Internet
adonnaM.mp3 - File Sharing, the Hidden Revolution in the Internet
http://www.digitalcraft.org/index.php?artikel_id=3D531
About the exhibition
During the last ten years, there has been a lot of discussion about
how our society and the private life of each one of us will be
changed by digital technologies. File sharing is a prime example of
how this revolution has long begun to take effect. Mp3 and Napster
are catchphrases that dominate public debate. In spite of that, the
basic principle behind file sharing remains largely unknown. Known as
peer-to-peer, it takes the form, in this case, of a voluntary,
decentrally organised network of internet users interested in music.
Within such peer-to-peer networks, an immense music archive has grown
up: accessible to anyone, without payment. All you need is a
computer, an internet connection and the knowledge of how to use mp3
technology. Companies in the music industry claim that it threatens
their very existence.
Peer-to-peer models, made practicable by a surge in technological
development, signal the emergence of new channels of communication
and media distribution. At the same time, they indicate the need for
a different approach to cultural artefacts in an age of digital
reproduction. Ultimately, they pose questions about the future forms
of distribution, archiving and access to information and knowledge.
These developments arouse a conflict of economic interests - and
clashes between new restrictions and long-established democratic
concepts of the right of access to collective knowledge. It is almost
impossible to predict the long term effects of this debate. It calls
into question fundamental terms of social co-existence and artistic
production, such as "freedom", "property", and "copyright". These
need to be re-defined to suit the changing reality of the information
society.
As a contemporary tool, mp3 technology is undoubtedly playing a part
in this. For individuals, skills in using it and the new media are
essential for taking part in today's processes. Its significance has
led the digitalcraft Department of the Museum of Applied Arts in
=46rankfurt to examine the subject more closely.
The exhibition "adonnaM.mp3" is concerned with the phenomenon of
audio file sharing and the file compression standard, mp3. It
analyses the drastic changes which the use of this digital tool is
effecting in society, the economy, art and design. The programme
accompanying "adonnaM.mp3" offers a brief introduction to the world
of file sharing for beginners.
With this exhibition, digitalcraft assumes the role of a platform,
registering and presenting the legal, social, economic and artistic
viewpoints on a phenomenon that has aroused heated controversy. File
sharing is revealed as a contemporary vehicle that provides the basis
for a new means of communication and is also an instrument of
creative expression.
Themes of the exhibition:
- What is mp3 and how does it really work?
- Technological development, play-back media and the history of audio record=
ing
- Conflicts of interest and their consequences: peer-to-peer
communities, copy protection and copyright law
- Popular culture in the internet and its changing aesthetics: art,
design and mp3
- Interactive workshops on downloading, re-mixing and file compression
What lies in store for visitors to adonnaM.mp3?
=46or some years, a central concern of the digitalcraft department has
been to research and analyse aspects of digital popular culture. The
exhibition "I love you", which took a discriminating look at the
phenomenon of computer viruses and security in the internet, is now
followed by the "adonnaM.mp3" project, devoted to an issue concerning
the exchange of knowledge over global networks.
The creators of "adonnaM.mp3" have taken mp3 as an example to
illustrate the economic and socio-political implications of the use
of digital technologies in everyday life.
"adonnaM.mp3" aims to give visitors a straightforward introduction to
the causal relationships that lie behind the controversies raging
over mp3. This includes a chronology of mp3, in which its economic
aspects are explained. An overview of the technological background is
provided by the mp3 pioneer, Micronas, which is also one of the
exhibition's sponsors. Additionally, "adonnaM.mp3" will offer members
of the public the opportunity of acquiring skills in using digital
tools. A representative sample of commercial music portals is given,
together with their fundamental business concepts. A hands-on
approach to the subject is enabled by a compendium of the most
widely-used file-sharing sites, with instructions on how to download
files. The workshop series "Digital Musician" at the Museum of
Communication completes the educational programme.
A sensory dimension is added to the theoretical material in
"adonnaM.mp3" by a selection of interactive design works that take
the mp3 format as their central theme. These are presented in the
context of the collecting and exhibiting strategy of the Museum of
Applied Arts.
The artists and works are as follows:
Markus Bader - Lux
Gregor/Jesek/Schr=F6der - Coverbox
Meso - Heavy Rotation Revisor
Schoenerwissen - Minitasking
Zirkeltraining - ReBraun
Lux is an exhibition piece created using a modified disco globe and
the internet site http.//www.natural-reality.de/lux. At both ends of
the system, exactly the same mp3 sequence can be played. This
accumulates from music files fed in by visitors to the exhibition and
the web site from their own collections.
"Coverbox" weaves imaginary networks from the links between various
musicians, titles and pieces of music. At present, the "Coverbox"
contains about five hundred cover versions in mp3 format and a wealth
of unexpected cross-references which, used interactively by the
visitor, display an endless variety of new images and network paths.
The Heavy Rotation Revisor is an installation and also an instrument,
which can be played simultaneously by four people. The installation
enables visitors to re-mix sounds from radio broadcasts "on air" and
arrange them in new sound collages, along the lines of sampling.
Minitasking, a visual Gnutella client, displays the data flow of the
Gnutella network protocol and shows how computing processes and the
dynamics of protocols function. The project (www.minitasking.com) was
created by Schoenerwissen, Office for Computational Design (Anne
Pascual and Marcus Hauer) and received a number of prizes at Ars
Electronica 2002 and at Transmediale.03.
ReBraun adds tailor-made software to a Braun stereo system from 1962
and uses it as hardware for bootlegging (the re-working of old hits
into a new piece). It plays with the aesthetic rules of product
design for hi-fi equipment - and breaks them.
--
Alessandro Ludovico
Neural.it - http://www.neural.it/ daily updated news + reviews
English content - http://www.neural.it/english/
Suoni Futuri Digitali - http://www.neural.it/projects/sfd/
------------------------------