[Nettime-nl] Public Lecture: A Survey of Open Licenses in Cultural Production

[matthew fuller <fuller@xs4all.nl>]

Lawrence Liang
PZI Public Lecture:  A Survey of Open Licenses in Cultural Production



Date: Wednesday 29th April
Time:  17.30
Entry: free, all welcome.
Location: Collegezaal, Floor 1, Piet Zwart Institute, Overblaak 85,
Rotterdam
Nearest NS, Metro and Tram 1 stop:  Blaak



The Free, Libre and Open Source Software (FLOSS) movement has emerged as
a strong alternative to the totalizing imagination of copyright law, and
ironically the mode through which this counter imagination has responded
has been to creatively use the dominant tool of copyright, namely
licensing. This counter imagination which seeks to promote an
alternative mode of conceptualizing knowledge production has also spread
to the domain of cultural production, with the emergence of 'open
licenses' outside the domain of software. (For instance the open content
license, the creative commons, the various EFF licenses etc).

This presentation seeks to critically analyse these licenses in terms of
their philosophical premises, the manner in which they conceptualise the
public domain, the legal innovations that they rely on and most
importantly to pose the question of how we may approach / read these
licenses beyond their status as legal documents.

The presentation will also attempt to critically evaluate the emerging
language of 'universality' in the critical debates on copyright,
especially from the US. For instance what are the limitations of the
liberal discourse of the 'public domain' that lies at the heart of the
creative commons project, and what are some of the ways through which we
locate 'open licenses' within larger social imaginaries of cultural
production.


Lawrence Liang is the current Research Fellow in the PZI Media Design
Research programme.  He is a member of the Alternative Law Forum in
Bangalore  http://www.altlawforum.org/



_ MA Media Design, Open Evening
Following the lecture, an informal Open Evening for the MA Media Design
will take place.  This is a chance to meet current students, course staff
and to view recent work.  For further information on the course,
http://pzwart.wdka.hro.nl/


This lecture is part of the Media Design Research programme at Piet
Zwart Institute, The institute for postgraduate education and research
of the Willem de Kooning Academie, Rotterdam. http://pzwart.wdka.hro.nl/
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