Copy/Paste

If you are an artist, then you have no doubt copied the work of others. This copying can range from using pages from a magazine in collage, adopting the style of an artist, or simply being inspired by the work of an artist. This natural process of copying, taught to us at every stage of our artistic development, is burdened by a very complex and messy set of laws and social conventions which define and limit how we can use copying within our practices. These don’t take into account exceptions or nuances, and come from a historical world where artworks were scarce physical objects, and don’t translate well into a world where culture is abundant and can be accessed and copied at will.

Being an artist who copies is to be an artist working in this murky grey area of right and wrong.

For those artists, I have curated Copy Paste. This exhibition features the work of nine artists and art collectives who all incorporate copying as a core aspect of their work. Taking the form of a physical exhibition at Piksel in Norway, an online exhibition, and an event and lecture series, the exhibition aims to show that copying is natural.

The works of Duncan Poulton and Lorna Mills exemplify the creative potential of diving into long forgotten archives to uncover obscure works that can be presented in new contexts to give them new meaning. These archives include works housed in libraries and universities, but also forgotten media from long-abandoned websites and broadcast media.

Carol Breen’s practice takes a more inward-facing approach to copying which sees Breen copy, edit, remix, rework and re-edit her work ad nauseam using a variety of methods to reiterate her work.

Peter Sunde’s Kopimashin takes the argument that copying is harmful and turns it on its head, creating an automated machine which copies infinitely but produces nothing.

Both Eric Schrijver and Constant take a more critical and educational approach to copying, examining the current conditions under which we copy and theorising on how we can better create licenses which reflect the nuances of creativity.

LoVid and Matthew Plummer-Fernandez and Julien Deswaef both present works that use 3D objects as their material, creating new works from publicly available 3D models, and encouraging the public to creatively rework their own work.