Re: [microsound] artificats?

[Damian Stewart <damian@xxxxxxxxxx>]

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

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