In-depth discussions on bootlegging and its myriad definitions in the creative world
Over the last few decades, the term “bootlegging”—a practice once relegated to smugglers and copyright infringers—has become understood as a creative act. Debates about homage, appropriation and theft, already common in the art world, are now being held in the spheres of corporate branding, social media and the creative industry as a whole. Today, bootlegging has become an aesthetic in and of itself, influencing everything from underground record labels and DIY T-shirts to publishing ideologies and acts of high fashion détournement. Unlicensed, a project by Ben Schwartz, contains 21 interviews with a range of creative practitioners on the topic of bootlegging. Some of these interviews were originally published on the Gradient, the design blog of the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, where Schwartz began his research on bootlegging. These conversations investigate bootlegging’s creative and critical potential, and explore new ways it can be deployed in order to thrive as an impactful cultural force. Artists include: Line Arngaard, Clara Balaguer, BLESS, Boot Boyz Biz, Akinola Davies Jr., Eric Doeringer, Experimental Jetset, Elisa van Joolen, Czar Kristoff, Hassan Kurbanbaev, Oliver Lebrun, Urs Lehni, Jonathan Monk, Sonia Oet, Matt Olson, Online Ceramics, Mark Owens, Printed Matter (Jordan Nassar and Christopher Schulz), Nat Pyper, Babak Radboy, Hassan Rahim, Shanzhai Lyric, SHIRT, Oana Stanescu. Ben Schwartz (born 1988) is a graphic designer and editor based in New York. He collaborates with several graphic design studios in the cultural sector across a variety of media. From 2016 to 2018 he served as a Graphic Design Fellow at the Walker Art Center.
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It is a form of tribute and respectful appropriation. Bootlegging has its own aesthetic, whose influence has broadened from underground record labels and DIY T-shirts to publishing strategies and even haute couture.
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Saturday, March 30, at 4 PM, please join Artbook @ MoMA PS1 Bookstore to celebrate Unlicensed: Bootlegging as Creative Practice—published by Valiz and Source Type—presented by graphic designer and editor Ben Schwartz with Shanzhai Lyric, Nat Pyper, Hassan Rahim and SHIRT. Book signing with Schwartz to follow. Please RSVP for the event and pre-order a signed copy here. continue to blog
Featured spreads are from new release Unlicensed: Bootlegging as Creative Practice, NYC-based graphic designer Ben Schwartz’s playful, 432-page investigation of the practice of bootlegging in the creative world. From Virgil Abloh’s Off-White logo (borrowed from the Glasgow International Airport) to Dwayne Johnson's "The Rock" stunt double, Jeff Koons’ 2008–2012 “Balloon Venus” (borrowing from the “Venus of Willendorf,” c. 25,000 BP) or even nature’s own Caligo Owl Butterfly, Schwartz drops a lens on the ambiguous practice of borrowing, quoting, sampling, copying—or stealing, depending on how you look at it—via in-depth discussions with 21 creative practitioners, including BLESS, Experimental Jetset, Printed Matter (Jordan Nassar and Christopher Schulz), Hassan Rahim, SHIRT and Oana Stanescu, among others. “By its very nature, a bootleg defies definition,” Schwartz writes. “It travels in black markets and hides in unmarked record sleeves; it communicates in the errors of cheap production and escapes into the loopholes of property law. It cares little for the stability a definition might offer. To define a bootleg would be to contain it. It creates order where mess is much more welcome. Definitions, language, and names clarify, but they also tend to pin things down. A bootleg’s survival is dependent on its ambiguity. Maybe we can talk about a bootleg while resisting the urge to define it. Maybe we can open it up, explore its edges, extend them outward, or destroy them altogether.” continue to blog
FORMAT: Pbk, 4.5 x 7 in. / 432 pgs / 70 b&w. LIST PRICE: U.S. $28.95 LIST PRICE: CANADA $41.95 ISBN: 9789493246294 PUBLISHER: Valiz/Source Type AVAILABLE: 2/20/2024 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: TRADE PUBLISHING STATUS: Active AVAILABILITY: In stock TERRITORY: NA LA ME
In-depth discussions on bootlegging and its myriad definitions in the creative world
Over the last few decades, the term “bootlegging”—a practice once relegated to smugglers and copyright infringers—has become understood as a creative act. Debates about homage, appropriation and theft, already common in the art world, are now being held in the spheres of corporate branding, social media and the creative industry as a whole. Today, bootlegging has become an aesthetic in and of itself, influencing everything from underground record labels and DIY T-shirts to publishing ideologies and acts of high fashion détournement. Unlicensed, a project by Ben Schwartz, contains 21 interviews with a range of creative practitioners on the topic of bootlegging. Some of these interviews were originally published on the Gradient, the design blog of the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, where Schwartz began his research on bootlegging. These conversations investigate bootlegging’s creative and critical potential, and explore new ways it can be deployed in order to thrive as an impactful cultural force.
Artists include: Line Arngaard, Clara Balaguer, BLESS, Boot Boyz Biz, Akinola Davies Jr., Eric Doeringer, Experimental Jetset, Elisa van Joolen, Czar Kristoff, Hassan Kurbanbaev, Oliver Lebrun, Urs Lehni, Jonathan Monk, Sonia Oet, Matt Olson, Online Ceramics, Mark Owens, Printed Matter (Jordan Nassar and Christopher Schulz), Nat Pyper, Babak Radboy, Hassan Rahim, Shanzhai Lyric, SHIRT, Oana Stanescu.
Ben Schwartz (born 1988) is a graphic designer and editor based in New York. He collaborates with several graphic design studios in the cultural sector across a variety of media. From 2016 to 2018 he served as a Graphic Design Fellow at the Walker Art Center.
