Cutting Across Media

“[An] absorbing collection of essays, interviews, and experiments in form. . . . The 24 entries explore appropriation, interventionist collage, and copyright issues from a variety of perspectives (not too many of them female, though) and in a wide range of art forms from music to film to painting to photocopied ’zines to altered billboards.” - Craig Bunch, Cassone

“Prioritising usage over rights lies, ironically, at the heart of capitalism itself- which adds to the current contradictions of perceived digital freedom. McLeod and Kuenzli are more than aware of this, adding that those lamenting the expansion of intellectual property often ‘sound like Libertarian cowboys’ On the whole, and to its credit, this volume gives voice to both sides. Participations range from, to name just a few, Craig Baldwin’s catalogue of ‘billboard liberation’ activities to McLeods’s essays on the KLF (remember the K foundation? Burning £1m and giving Rachel Whiteread the ‘Worst Artist Award’ at her receipt of the Turner Prize and other anarcho-pop manifestations) to David Schneiderman on the cut-ups of William Burroughs and DJ Danger Mouse’s Grey Album.” - David Ryan, Art Monthly

“Reflecting both McLeod’s spirited cultural critique and Kuenzli’s interdisciplinary approach to the arts, Cutting Across Media explores diverse forms of collage and appropriation in music, painting, publishing, spoken broadcasts, poetry, and narrative. In this collage of essays, readers are challenged to rethink notions of intellectual property and to consider the complex political and cultural issues that accompany collage and appropriation aesthetics.” - Christine Masters Jach, American Book Review

“What separates this volume from other contemporary works around sampling and intellectual property law is that research in this area rarely attempts to
marry aesthetic and political concerns so overtly. . . . [A]n edited collection that successfully manages to explore the political and artistic imperatives that inform the practice of collage and appropriation.” - James Meese, Media International Australia

“Communication is much like a work of art—it is a process of copying, repeating and varying what we hear. There is no originator or owner of that which shapes our very being, and Cutting Across Media demonstrates how placing restrictions on creative commentary can stifle our cultural development.” - Vicki Bennett, aka People Like Us

“I believe this is an important book, specifically because the issues discussed affect much of our future artistic creations; as mentioned this has profound social and cultural ramifications. As such, this book should be at minimum included as a recommended text in a variety of applicable tertiary education courses. The stakes are too high to ignore the erosion of artistic freedom brought about by ignorant and greed driven application of copyright law.” - Rob Harle, Leonardo Reviews

“Spanning media from visual art to popular music, literature to culture jamming, this series of essays challenges the litigious environment in which copyright is used as a blunt weapon to prevent reinvention of existing works and the transformative process of reuse to inform the creative cycle of ideas. . . . Advanced undergraduates through faculty in art, art history, media studies, film, literature and music will appreciate the interdisciplinary treatment of collage.” - Cara List, ARLIS/NA Reviews

“Where the most prominent works on the subject tend to dwell on digital’s infinite capacity to reproduce and share itself freely and its current kowtowing to corporate rights management, this book begins by situating appropriation art and collage in the earlier recesses of the twentieth century with Walter Benjamin, the Surrealists, and Dada. Along the way, it touches upon zine culture, audiotape collage, street art, and new wave science fiction; it critiques the international outflows of copyright-subject culture and then it critiques the debate itself.” - Allie Curry, Rain Taxi

“Cutting across Media is a very welcome addition to the evolving discourse on intellectual property issues in the arts. Its editors Kembrew McLeod and Rudolf Kuenzli, the former a respected commentator on intellectual property issues, the latter director of the International Dada Archive, have found a good balance between analysis of well-established collage techniques and the exploration of new contexts for theories of appropriation. The resulting anthology presents an extensive cross-section of critical perspectives on the intersection between creative expression and intellectual property law.” - Martin Zeilinger, Media, Culture & Society

“Cutting Across Media fills important gaps in our understanding of the real, lived practices of remix and the legal strategies that surround and inform these practices. Students new to the topic and seasoned scholars alike may find something of value here.” - Andrew Famiglietti, Popular Music and Society