I was really excited by all of the Bourriaud readings this week because they felt liked they related very closely to how I’ve been making work lately, especially his ideas about appropriation vs the readymade and the role of the artist as being someone who is particularly good at surfing the culture or a kind of a semionaught – a term I really love. For me I think the idea of the role of the artist as not being so much someone who generates work or things in general is very apt. I think the project of originality is not so relevant in a culture where the stream of things being generated is already too great. This idea of the semionaught is to me someone who can interpret, make meanings from, and guide through the cultural rain. I really liked all the DJ analogies he made too because this idea of remixing, programming and play listing culture is exactly what I see me role as in my video mash-ups. The possibilities are really exciting and so are the difficulties. For one thing if you consider that the material of the artist is culture itself then you already have too much material and for another an appropriation and readymade practice is tricky in a litigious and copyright obsessed society. The idea of ownership is nebulous, ridiculous, and frustrating for everyone. I’ve also been reading this David Shields book that tackles many of the name issues in an interesting way.