Very Important:
"All
the creations on the blog Big
Sheep page are under a copyleft license according to the terms
of the "Free
Art License"
because
BIG SHEEP is a Free
Art / Copyleft Project
by Regina Célia Pinto and Isabel Saij
Introdutory
Note
by
Regina
Célia Pinto
The idea
of the project "Big Sheep" started during the first 2005
collaborative review of the Museum
of the Essential and Beyond That's Newsletter.
For those who do not know, the newsletter is a collaborative experience
(or exchange) about net.art criticism. Artists, having creations at
the museum's galleries, are invited for a month in order to have their
works analyzed by the members of the list. This process of criticism
is dynamic and the guest artist also takes part in it, what, certainly,
helps to produce a much more real critic.
During
April 2005, the guest artist was the French Isabel Saij, who shares
with me the authorship of the Project Big Sheep. It happened because
Isabel Saij comments during the first review 2005 aroused my interest
on the concept of copyleft. In fact, I use several times re-readings
of other artists works while creating my own work. I believe that
every time one does a re-reading of an artist work, he / she is not
only continuing that work but also calling public's attention for
it. So it explains my personal commitment for the "Free Art".
Since its inauguration, the museum owns a gallery called "Cloning
and Web", which was created with the goal of showing that
many web.artists work today with creations and images by others.
The idea
of sheep being cloned and remixed was a natural consequence of the
copyleft concept and of the collaborative reviews 2005 series: "Electric
Green Sheep" and "Sheep's Parade" (http://bigsheep.blogspot.com/2005/06/desfile-de-ovelhas-sheeps-parade.html).
In fact, after Dolly, cloning and sheep will be joined forever!
Then
the Project Big Sheep is not only a new collaborative one in itself.
The collaboration is also was conceived to call atention to the copyleft
atitude importance. This attitude, in my opinion, preserves and enlarges
the works of art.
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Concept
by Isabel
Saij
Context:
1-How
has humanity learned since centuries? Any progress was based on previous
discoveries and on the avalaibility of documents, researches,...
2-Recently (second
half of the 20th centur) more and more discoveries, products, creations
are "protected" with patents, copyrights,...
3-The reaction
to the protection on softwares was the "open source" launched
in the mid 80's.
4-The mid 90's
saw two other phenomenons: the apparition of internet and the growing
number of people having their own pc at home. It means now that information
is widely avalaible, knowledge is easy to share, communication is
possible through out the world,...
5-But it is not
so obvious because the majority of what can be found on internet is
either patented or copyrighted. In a way or another it is protected.
6-The response
to that point came in 2000 with the creation of new licenses (creative
commons, free art license,...) in order to allow the transmission
and diffusion of knowledge and culture. In other words to come back
to the roots (see point 1 above) and be active as artists, writers,
musicians,...in this movement.
Statement:
The decision to
work in the frame of a copyleft license has many implications. As
said above such a website contributes in its way to the diffusion
and sharing of culture. Each participant comes with his/her own ideas,
with philosophical, political, social, economical, aesthetical,...
motivations. It’s worth to underline that the current technology
allows to work together independently from any national or cultural
distinctions. The decentralized process contains/carries a subversive
matter: the loss of power...
Principles of
the "Free Art License":
With this Free
Art License, you are authorised to copy, distribute and freely transform
the work of art while respecting the rights of the originator.
Far from ignoring
the author's rights, this license recognises them and protects them.
It reformulates their principle while making it possible for the public
to make creative use of the works of art. Whereas curren tliterary
and artistic property rights result in restriction of the public's
access to works of art, the goal of the Free Art License is to encourage
such access.
The intention
is to make work accessible and to authorise the use of its resources
by the greatest number of people: to use it in order to increase its
use, to create new conditions for creation in order to multiply the
possibilities of creation, while respecting the originators in according
them recognition and defending their moral rights.
In fact, with
the arrival of the digital age, the invention of the Internet and
free software, a new approach to creation and production has made
its appearance. It also encourages a continuation of the process of
experimentation undertaken by many contemporary artists.
Knowledge and
creativity are resources which, to be true to themselves, must remain
free, i.e. remain a fundamental search which is not directly related
to a concrete application. Creating means discovering the unknown,
means inventing a reality without any heed to realism. Thus, the object(ive)
of art is not equivalent to the finished and defined art object.
This is the basic
aim of this Free Art License: to promote and protect artistic practice
freed from the rules of the market economy.
FAQ:
Who can participate?
Well, everybody
can participate: there is absolutely no condition of eligibility!
What should I
know before participating?
The copyleft movement
is perfectly legal: it is based on a license whichdescribes precisely
in which legal frame it is working.
The main idea is to transfer some of your "rights" to others
(see above theprinciples), "rights" you get automatically
as soon as you've have made a creation.
More information:
http://artlibre.org/licence.php/lalgb.html
What are the rules
to participate:
-only something
(drawing, photo, text, music,...) on which you have thef ully copyright
can be put under a copyleft license.
-you can make
a work, write a text or compose music,... and put it under the"Free
Art License". Then you have an original work which is now copylefted.
-you can modify
a work, add a comment to a text, arrange a music which is already
under the "Free Art License". The result of your adaptation
is a derivative work. The derivative work MUST also be placed under
the same license.
-you can also
use a derivative work and bring your own touch. You produce another
derivative work which must also be placed under the same license.
What is forbidden?
For instance you
can't:
-download a photo,
a picture from internet or from any search machine (like Google) and
put it under copyleft or add it to a copyleft work if you have no
idea of the legal status of the photo, picture,...Even without indication
the work is automatically protected by a copyright.
-use a song of
the "Beatles" (or any other band) to illustrate a copyleft
work.
-make your own
a copyleft work (in other words to put a copyright on a copyleft creation)
For the project
"Sheep's parade" which came just before "Big Sheep",
Miguel Jimenez "Zenón" sent a diashow. It was a composition
of 3 pictures starting from the famous painting "Las Meninas"
by Velázquez. Miguel Jimenez made a modification to the original
reproduction of the work and he gave us his agreement to put his creation
under copyleft. It shoudn't be a problem because the painting is since
a long time in the public domain. But it is a problem because now
the photos of the painting are copyrighted! A scan from a book, a
download from internet is not allowed until you ask for permission!
The only solution would be to do yourself a photo or to get an authorization!
In order to avoid any problem or to wait for an hypothetic agreement,
we have decided that Miguel Jimenez' s work should not be placed under
copyleft.
How can I enter
the "Big Sheep" project?
-add an original
work to our collection of sheep
-modify one of
the original work (located here: http://arteonline.arq.br/blog/images.htm
) and send it back to us at arteonline@arteonline.arq.br, subject
> BIG SHEEP.
-modify
a derivative work (located here: http://bigsheep.blogspot.com/
- click the images to enlarge them) and send it back to us at arteonline@arteonline.arq.br.
-participate
in the blog Big Sheep (http://bigsheep.blogspot.com
) with comments and texts.
- the
remixed works can be images, animations, movies, texts, whatever you
imagine...
but they have to measure 640 X 480 pixels and have not more than 300
kb.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
BIOS AND INFORMATION
1-Regina
Célia Pinto
Brazilian
lives and works in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil)
1994
: dissertation in "Art History - Anthropology of Art“ -
Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro
subject : "Celeida Tostes, Lygia Clark and Lygia Pape“
- title: "Four views in search of a reader, important women,
art and identity,"
1989-1998
: Material painting, objects, group exhibitions and solo exhibitions.
1993:
Beginning of the computer generated art: 2D drawings, 2D animations,
real virtuality, netart,...
1998:
First online exhibitions of netart pieces - The Cyber Circus"
2000:
Created the e-zine Art on Line, with Paulo Villela and Marcelo Frazão
2001:
Created the Library of Marvels
2002:
Created the Museum of the Essential and Beyond That
2004:
Created the Museum Newsletter, a work of collaborative net.art criticism,
where the Big Sheep has its roots.
2005:
Current activities:
-netartist, multimedia artist, copyleft activist
-critic
-digital photographer
-researcher
The works
can be see directly on-line at the following adresses:
http://arteonline.arq.br/
http://arteonline.arq.br/library.htm
http://arteonline.arq.br/newsletter/
http://arteonline.arq.br/magic_walls/
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
2-Isabel Saij
French
lives and works in Mervent (France) and Vienna (Austria)
1984 : dissertation in "visual art and science
of art“ La Sorbonne Paris 1
subject : "Egon Schiele 1890/1918“
1983-1999 : Material painting, objects, installations
exhibited in solo, group exhibitions and on art fairs
2000: Beginning of the computer generated art: 2D
and 3D drawings, 2D and 3D animations, real virtuality, netart,...
2002: First online exhibitions of netart pieces.
2003: Reviewer for the californian e-zine "netartreview“
2005: Current activities:
-netartist, multimedia artist, copyleft activist
-critic
-photographer
-sound designer
-researcher
The works can be see directly on-line at the following
adresses:
http://www.saij-netart.net
http://www.saij-copyleft.net
http://www.bibiche.net
http://www.digressions.net
http://www.saij-photos.net
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/isabelsaij-net
