[Seven by Nine Squares home page] [The Destruction of Meaning] [SMILE magazine path] [Contents]
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PLAGERISM


Ideas improve. Plagerism implies it. The use of overt plagerism by 'art movements' like The Generation Positive, the Neoists and Praxis does not, however, participate in this improvement. In the 'post-industrial' condition of information overload, the raw surplus of images, ideas and texts is so great that the selective process of choosing what material to plagerize is as much a 'creative' act as the construction of the images, ideas and texts in the first place. If the aim of plagerism is to make a 'radical' break with 'creativity' and its 'commodity value,' plagerists must give up the selction process and confine themselves to a 'Cagian' 'random method.' Since the introduction of 'random method' in no way prevents the the use of the resulting materials for storage of excess 'value' (art), a more appropriate action of consistent plagerists would be participation (sic) in the ARTISTS STRIKE, meaning (at least) three years of inactivity (between 1990 and 1993). Only through complete inactivity can we purge ourselves of the capitalist values of 'originality' and 'creativity' manifested through 'art' and its double, 'Plagerism.'

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