[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: [microsound] artificats?



Kim Cascone wrote:
In the language of capitalism, culture is a service, not a product.

I totally disagree with your statement...culture is a commodity i.e. product by virtue of the fact an artifact has an exchange value...and let's not forget that most service can also be defined as a commodity for the very same reason...

I think we've got multiple different meanings of the word 'cultural artifact' here. A CD or DVD is a different kind of cultural artifact to a lunchbox, or a book, or a 78 RPM single. On a lower level you've got the item of culture (cultural artifact 0) that the physical object encloses or represents. Then you've got the physical object itself (cultural artifact 1).


A compact disc containing a recording of a piano concerto is not a piano concerto. Is the piano concerto the cultural artifact? the CD? both? As cultural practitioners, which one do we care about more? I'd argue that the CD is a function of the particular material emphasis of our current times, and that we care much more about the piano concerto itself than about the shiny plastic disc.


-- Damian Stewart +64 27 305 4107

f r e y
live music with machines
http://www.frey.co.nz
http://www.myspace.com/freyed

---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: microsound-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
For additional commands, e-mail: microsound-help@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
website: http://www.microsound.org