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The laws governing "intellectual property" have grown so expansive in recent years that artists need legal experts to sort them all out. Borrowing from another artwork—as jazz musicians did in the 1930s and Looney Tunes illustrators did in 1940s—will now land you in court. If the current copyright laws had been in effect back in the day, whole genres such as collage, hiphop, and Pop Art might have never have existed.

The irony here couldn't be more stark. Rooted in the U.S. Constitution, copyright was originally intended to facilitate the exchange of ideas but is now being used to stifle it.

The Illegal Art Exhibit will celebrate what is rapidly becoming the "degenerate art" of a corporate age: art and ideas on the legal fringes of intellectual property. Some of the pieces in the show have eluded lawyers; others have had to appear in court.

1. Negativland—U2: Special Edit Radio Mix (5:46)
2. Biz Markie—Alone Again (2:52) *
3. People Like Us—Swinglargo (5:20)
4. Culturcide—They Aren't the World (4:30) *
5. The Evolution Control Committee—Rocked by Rape (4:28)
6. Beastie Boys—Rock Hard (4:53) *
7. Dummy Run—f.d. (1:23)
8. John Oswald—black (2:01)
9. Corporal Blossom—White Christmas (3:19)
10. Tape-beatles—Reality of Matter (2:37)
11. Public Enemy—Psycho of Greed (3:11)
12. The Verve—Bittersweet Symphony (4:35) *
13. Wobbly—Clawing Your Eyes Out Down to Your Throat (1:21)
14. De La Soul—Transmitting Live from Mars (1:07) *
15. Buchanan and Goodman—The Flying Saucer (4:18) *
16. The JAMs—The Queen and I (4:50) *
17. Elastica—Connection (2:20) *
18. Steinski and Mass Media—The Motorcade Sped On (4:26) *
19. Invisibl Skratch Piklz—white label edit (5:30) *
20. Xper.Xr—Wu-chu-tung (1:43)
21. Boone Bischoff—Happy Birthday To You (0:28)

// posted by Alice @ Friday, December 29, 2006