Shepard Fairey & Lawrence Lessig: The Live Remix!

Made it into the NYPL event! Here is my pseudo-live blogging.

7:27pm – Some guy introducing the speakers calls Thomas Jefferson’s whittled down personal Bible the original American remix.

7:33pm – Lessig shows a half dozen photos Fairey could have based his ‘Hope’ poster on.

7:34pm – First obligatory Girl Talk reference. I also just noticed that the phrase “hybrid economy” is in event title. What’s that?

7:35pm – First obligatory Will.I.Am reference

7:44pm – Remix culture is like quoting. The presumption should be towards free rather than regulated speech.

Lessig’s txt style PowerPoint slides 2cute by 1/2. Why oh why?

7:54pm – Lessig done. Makes remix culture all about the kids, and not criminalizing their creativity.

7:57pm – Fairey on stage now. Did he just use the word phenomenology?

8:02pm – Fairey confirms he thought of the blue and red in the Hope poster as being about the blue/red states coming together in Obama.

8:03pm – He acknowledges Manny Garcia.

8:04pm – Makes good point that all spoofs are of his style. Implication? He created something new with the photo.

He also claims, justly, he made the original photo more interesting.

8:17pm – big applause line: Fairey is doing this for artistic freedom, not for himself.

8:23pm – good question from moderator: are mashups and remixes primarily satiric? Does this limit the range of remix culture? Lessig says no: he says satire is hard to do and should be cultivated and taught because this is the idiom.

8:33pm – Lessig says campaign finance should be issue 1.

8:39pm – first question submitted, via the Internet, from DJj Spooky.

8:41pm – Fairey: originality is overrated.

8:42pm – Lessig: remix is hard not easy.

8:49pm – Question calls out Lessig for ‘doing it all for the kids’ while the actual content of remix culture goes unaddressed and especially the state of public schools. He also called them three educated white guys, which I loved.