fountain
Duchamp was the original DJ. The whole readymade thing strikes me as a precursor to the sampling & quoting of music. Interesting also that a) Duchamp signed the fountain with a fictional name, and signed other readymades with “from M. Duchamp” rather than “by”; b) he did not consider the works to be art; that c) there were no “originals”:
Duchamp states that, “another aspect of the “readymade” is its lack of uniqueness… the replica of a “readymade” delivering the same message; in fact nearly everyone of the “readymades” existing today is not an original in the conventional sense.” This statement was made late in Duchamp’s life, showing that he was not upset that his originals had been lost, in fact it is believed that he disposed of many of them himself.
and d) there were no issues at the time related to patent, trademark or copyright. The urinal manufacturer does not seem to have gotten upset. Which is clearly not the case today, or efforts like this or that would not be needed. Free the Mouse!
for some reason it has been determined that every crap B movie shot in Toronto must shoot at least three scenes on my street, which means that on what is nearly a weekly basis during the summer, there is nowhere to park. The letter the film companies circulate reads: “Please be advised, we’re filming on the 6th, 8th, 10th, and 15th of the month. On these days, you will park elsewhere please and thank you.”
It occurs to me that these are very bad movies– indeed, they are a form of evil. I have been thinking it is important to raise a stink about this, as sometimes one must fight fire with fire. Lord knows, if I were to make a film, and it were to involve panning by my kitchen window, where there is a clear view of a billboard for Bell Canada, there is a chance Bell Canada would raise a stink if they felt offended by my subject matter. I might well be getting a phone call from a lawyer, informing me I failed to get the permission to appropriate their intellectual property, and they do not want to be affiliated with me or my views, please and thank you. If they can make the claim that they own the view from my window, should I not be able to make the claim that I own the street I live on?
And in court, should I not be able to drop a tab of acid into my judges bottled water? Or am I overstepping my boundaries here?
Here’s what you do. a) start a company. b) design a logo. c) trademark the logo. d) paint the logo as large as possible on the outside of your house. e) make note of which films are shooting on your street, and when they are about to be released, demand payment for their use of your trademark. Make sure you demand an amount slightly less than the going rate to remove the image digitally, and you have your comeuppance.
This never occured to me before. Thanks, D.