Re: Open Source as an Ant Farm

Written August 24. 1999, at 01:00 GMT.

Well here goes my answer to the community:

You Just Don't Get it, Do you?

> "In my opinion if you can't write good code you can't appreciate good code."

The Prix Ars Electronica award had nothing to do with code! It was about art. It was about social movement, and philosophy. It was about how a bunch of deep-thinking, smart and creative individuals (thousands of them) have set out and created something (what exactly isn't important here) realively original, and stirred up a lot of thought/emotions/attention. To such extent that our whole society is affected. Those involved in the making of creative works (of any kind) in the future will have to take the FS and OS philosophy into account. Facing up to history, just like they have to with Plato, Nietzche, Rodin, Picasso, Pollock, Warhol and all the others.

> "But what does the average art lover see hanging there? Open Source as an Art Form? I think not."

And I say: If you don't know anything about art and art theory you can't appreciate, and comment on, good art. (This is of course somewhat arrogant, but so is the whole article. Ignorant and arrogant!)

Modern art is not just about objects. It's about ideas, creation, participation, performance, objects, and all sorts of other things. It's complex, and where they're gonna hang it just doesn't enter into it!

Open source has not been declared an art form. Just think about it... - The award was just given for something that has potentially affected art in a serious way.

Just deal with it guys. What you are making is affecting artistic and creative work all around you.

It is (probably) not art in itself, but it sure is affecting art. - It is probably going to have tremendous permanent effect on the art world as we know it!

So step down of your arrogant poles and take off your ignorant head-bags and smile, because you're doing something important, and you are being appreciated for it!

(P.S. I'm a not-so-humble art-student and I can tell you that at least my artistic philosophy has been greatly affected by the free-software and open-source ideology, and I think the Prix Ars Electronica for Linux was well deserved.)

I guess I should have directly spelled it out, but what the Ars Electronica folks probably found most mentally stimulating about FS/OS is the idea of a shared construct, the lack of concrete ownership, and intellectual property. This is obviously directly relevant to the arts in general.

Also on the reocurring question of "Code == art?": Like paint and canvas are not art, code is not art. Yet as you can make art with paint and canvas, you must be able to make art with code. (By that I'm not saying that Linux is art, just that it must be possible to create some sort of software artwork)

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