The Revolution will be Plagiarized
Pablo Picasso is supposed to have said that “all art is theft”. The idea may or may not be controversial, but the intention is clear. The creative process, which relies on the evolution of techniques, observation and criticism, is an assimilation of all that has gone before, and all creativity, whether artistic, technological or scientific, walks a thin line between innovation and originality, plagiarism and parody. Copyright is the mechanism by which art and music are protected from inappropriate use and reproduction, but copyright assumes a unique relationship between the artist and his work that isn’t necessarily unique nor all-embracing. In the realm of art even the idea that art is theft is common place.
