The Unfair Case of Jesse Jordan

Chapter three from Lawrence Lessig’s  Free Culture outlines the unfair situation endured by Jesse Jordan in 2003. His modified search engine (he didn’t even make it from scratch) attracted the attention of the RIAA, which explained that the company was entitled to an unreasonably large amount of cash to make up for “damages”.

Setting aside the unfair lawsuit, I’d like to draw attention to Jesse himself. He was a student in his freshman year at RPI. Seeing as his major was information technology, it’s no surprise (or problem) that he tinkered, fixed, and played with programs that he was interested in. In fact, an ideal academic environment would encourage students to be innovative in their field of study and experiment for the purpose of advancing their knowledge and the practical applications of the software (such as Jesse’s search engine) that were used at the time.

Even though Jesse would have been saving money for school at the time, his search engine wasn’t used for profit. He wasn’t part of any organization, and the software itself acted in a way extremely similar to Google. Should he have paid the demanded amount? Did he make the right choice? Whether or not he did, in becoming an activist he drew more attention to a battle that rages on today, and most likely will in the years to come.

Remix Assignment!

Every artist can be considered a magician. As the remix video below explains, the magician (or in this case, the artist) presents you with something ordinary. The trick is to change that ordinary something into something extraordinary. Whether it be in the form of a painting, sculpture, song, or digital art piece, artwork can amaze an audience the same way a magic trick would. How did the artist do it? What’s the secret?

Video #1: Art a Magic Trick

Sources: Noted in video credits

The thing is, you’re not really looking for the secret. Most people don’t mind enough to investigate the creative process surrounding a particular art piece; that’s what makes it so beautiful and awe-inspiring. Pictured below are my two remixed art pieces, each comprised of three or more sources (the appropriate sources are listed below each image). Think of each piece as a magic trick. How realistic does it look? Could one mistake it for reality? 

Image #1: The Real Turtle Island

Sources: scotto (castle photo), Nlr4 (turtle photo), PinkBlueBlackRed (turtle island photo), jup3nep (grassy hill photo), DianaFernandes-stock (sky photo), GONE-EVERLONG (rocky ground photo). 

Image #2: Dogback Rider
Sources: mjagiellicz (forest photo), keldbach (horseback rider photo), Czertice (dog photo).

David Hoffos: Scenes from the House Dream!

I became interested the second I walked into the dark exhibit. It took almost a minute for my eyes to fully adjust. Once they did, I began walking along and peeping through the numerous circular viewports which were placed along the right wall. The path of the exhibit went clockwise, and featured approximately two dozen, intricately designed pieces of work that inspired thought and contemplation. Most parts of the exhibit were a combination of holographic reflections and miniature models. Some were complex in nature; others simple, or humorous (such as the prison guard scene; my personal favourite). In the corners of the room were lifelike, yet ghostly projections of females doing different things. In one corner sat a woman at a table, in another stood (from what I could tell) a waitress. All in all I found the exhibit very interesting. The miniature models and holograms made me wonder how they were designed, how long it must have taken to have the screens properly calibrated and set up, and just marvel at the amount of detail put into some of the scenes (for instance, the forest ones). I also found the way mirrors were used to make the scene appear much bigger than it really was to be very interesting as well. I recommend it for all to see, as it really puts art into a different perspective and makes you think. And, seeing as the exhibit's free and there until December 31, why not have a look? Depending on how long you spend examining each piece of artwork, you'll be there anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour. In my opinion, that's time well spent.

Remixing Perspective

Producing a sequence of multiple remixed images can be tricky. While doing so, it’s important to pick a theme that can be utilized throughout your work. This aspect held in common by all three remixes will allow you to advertently show progression of an idea, concept, story, etc. I’m not yet entirely sure of what I’d like to show the progression of, but I do know I’d like to play around with the idea of perspective, which plays an important part in every art piece. The art piece pictured below, for instance, plays with the perspective of setting. The artist (Pete Harrison) combines numerous objects and entities you wouldn’t often find in one place. The result is a visually complex yet realistic-looking art piece, combining the aspects of photo manipulation as well as graphic illustration. 

A piece by Pete Harrison

A piece by Erik Johansson (pictured below) is an interesting play on perspective as well. Like all his artwork, this image looks strikingly realistic. Everything above the water looks normal, but Johansson’s unique perspective on what lies below make his art that much more interesting. With my remixed images, I hope to do just that; express my unique perspective on things through the form of realistic media.

'Fishy island' by Erik Johansson