UR PALETTEN NR 1 2011:

Marysia Lewandowska and Laurel Ptak on intellectual property

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Text Marysia Lewandowska and Laurel Ptak 13

Artist Marysia Lewandowska and curator Laurel Ptak have initiated a long-term conversation and collaborative research project on the subject of intellectual property, open culture, and art practice. They are presently co-organizing a series of events and co-editing a book around the subject. The following text is an imperfect facsimile and
uncopyrightable trace of their ongoing dialogue around authorship, ownership, economy, difference, ethics, freedom, production, consumption, use, public, private, and the gift, as it has unfolded since the fall of 2009.

LP: For me debates around intellectual property are essentially
questions about who owns ideas and knowledge; Who produces them? Who consumes them? Who profits from them? What are the politics, conditions and economies of their production, circulation, and distribution? Our work together explores and tries to articulate the scope and terms upon which ideas and knowledge might more ideally
be shared—both inside and outside the art context.

ML: What is the value of culture that is predominantly owned rather than shared? This brings us to the question of the social dynamics of property. And relates directly to neoliberal politics and the destruction of public space which includes publicly owned knowledge and creativity. The more enclosures you invent and legally enforce, the more you are creating a situation where the very concept of the public is being eliminated.

LP: You have lived for many years in London, and I've been based in New York City for a decade now. Between the twin figures of Thatcher and Reagan the instances and effects of deregulation and privatization they set into motion have been widely discussed and deeply felt. It seems to me that the changed social conditions shaped by these economic and political policies are well expressed inside recent struggles over intellectual property.

ML: You living and working and being connected to a community of other creative workers in New York City and myself engaged in debates across Western Europe, including the former East. Is it worth keeping trace of those differences?

LP: Yes, our geographic but also generational points of view have proven productively different for our work together. Let's contextualize.

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