KOPy Cats - Hotlist - Kingdom of piracy online exhibition and Acer Digital Arts Center, Taipei, Taiwan - Brief Article

Is Pirated Material the electronic-age scion of the readymade? "Kingdom of piracy" (kop), an exhibition that launched online in pilot form last December (kop.adac.com.tw) and debuts in the physical world this May at the Acer Digital Arts Center in Taipei, argues that electronic appropriation and sampling might best be perceived as (unlicensed) poetic license rather than infringement of intellectual property rights or out-and-out theft. Embodying the rebellious kop attitude cocurator Shu Lea Chang, best known for her 1998 piece Brandon (brandon.guggenheim.org), a multimedia retelling of the murder of transgendered teengager Teena Brandon, says, "As an artist, I find the fixation on originality and 'product' antiquated."

The works on the site-produced by an eclectic, international mix of artists, some operating under collective aliases-while not unique per se, are innovative. The American code-writing ensemble known as Beige, for example joined forces with RSG, an anonymous group of digital artists, to create Hall of Fame which features colorful screen shots of commercial video games that have been modified or "cracked" by clever players. Japanese duo Exonemo contributes High Ball, a software program that mixes cocktails of images and sounds from users' Web searches. The Italian group known only as 0100101110101101.org has constructed a complex site that questions the World Trade Organization's policies.

Cheang and cocurators Armin Medosch and Yukiko Shikata insist that none of the works in kop will break any intellectual property law-which, some would argue, must be the case since each was crated as art. The project is sponsored by PC giant Acer, leading one to wonder whether the pirates might be counting on a little protection from their king.

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