Video Vortex Reader II: moving images beyond YouTube

84 Video Vortex Reader II Moving Images Beyond YoutubeImages on the Move85activities had brought together artists, youth, and New York’s dynamic cultural forms, suchas remix, fashion and hip-hop. Experts in new media and technology, and in hacker, sustainabilityissues and open source culture in particular, were thrown into this mix. 14 This context,with reference to critical U.S.-based cultural and legal reformism, activism and education incopyright issues was used to develop the Clip Kino concept. 15The aim of the Seeders N Leechers project was to explore peer-to-peer (P2P) culture in collaborationwith young people, with the title of the project taken from BitTorrent 16 protocol: theslang terms for key roles in P2P file-sharing refer to the original uploader who provides theoriginal file as a ‘seeder’, and the downloader who ‘leeches’ the content from the network.The BitTorrent protocol is also a form of encoded cooperation: when you begin downloadinga file, you are also by default helping others, by making the file more easily available tothem. My hope was that the workshop, exploring and sharing of video clips between us as agroup, would give us the roles of being ‘seeders’ and ‘leechers’ of content, shared throughface-to-face interaction.On arrival in New York, I structured a program of events for the teenage students-in-residenceat the centre: Tahj Banks, Glen Moore, and Jayquan Harris from Brooklyn, andWandy Marcano from the Bronx. All had attended the previous year’s Digital Summer Campworkshops at Eyebeam, were aged between 17 and 19 years old, and were given a studentsalary for attending Eyebeam twice a week after school. Each week, for a period of twomonths, we held one ‘leech’ screening in between two ‘seeding’ workshop sessions. Thesesessions sometimes included other artist residents of Eyebeam, and involved discussion ofmedia awareness, local and youth representations in online video, copyright, remix, andcreative commons approaches to media, P2P networks, and how to organize a screeningevent. Furthermore, we shared links to videos, which we watched together in physicalmaterialspace. Over my period of residency, this process of exchange shifted from one thatwas initiated by me to one that was increasingly about the students sharing material with me,and then to others in Eyebeam.The outcome of the workshop process was a Clip Kino screening event called Teen Mashup,of which all the content was curated and arranged by the teenagers. As the title of the eventsuggests, the screening consisted of videos chosen according to the teenage students’ interests,and represented homemade music production, shock magicians on television, and14. Research in Education Project Archive, Eyebeam Art and Technology Center (2000-), New York,http://eyebeam.org/research/education.15. For the background to these issues, see: Fair Use & Copyright Resources, Centre for SocialMedia (2005-), American University School of Communication, Washington DC, http://www.centerforsocialmedia.org/resources/fair_use/; Lawrence Lessig, Free Culture: The Nature andFuture of Creativity, London: The Penguin Press, 2005, http://free-culture.cc/; Free Culture:Students for Free Culture (2003-), http://freeculture.org/; Kenneth McLeod, Freedom ofExpression: Resistance & Repression in the Ages of Intellectual Property, Minneapolis: Universityof Minnesota Press, 2007, http://www.freedomofexpression.us/.16. Seeder and Leecher definitions on BitTorrent vocabulary, Wikipedia,http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BitTorrent_vocabulary.different hip hop or gang representations of New York. During this event, one of the audiencemembers asked a student, ‘Did you contact the video clip uploaders about whetherit was ok to screen their video?’ The answer (‘no, we didn’t because...’) managed to satisfythe questioner, and indicated to me that the student had gained a level of online medialiteracy. The Seeders N Leechers R Us project extended the pedagogical aspect that hadgiven rise to Clip Karavaani, in order to tackle the debates surrounding copy, file-sharing,and sampling cultures, and which helped to shape my future and current pedagogicalactivity.Kirjasto 10, February-December 2008After the Clip Karavaani project’s choice of venues, Kirjasto 10 public library 17 in the centreof Helsinki appealed as a location in which we could hold regular screenings. The libraryfocused on music and media, had installed audiovisual presentation facilities, and promoteditself as a place ‘for consuming, creating and displaying culture’. 18 Having conferred with theLibrary’s staff, I began a program of screenings in 2008 in the Kirjasto 10 venue entitled ClipKino Helsinki. 19 Although there was no budget for these events, as a library user, I was allowedto use the facilities without charge. On all occasions except one, I invited contacts andcolleagues to arrange 40-60 minute-long screening of video clips on a theme of their choice.Between video clips, the volunteer ‘guest-host’ curators 20 were expected to contextualize theclip, or explain their reason for selecting it.Different themes were presented which were either geographically and socio-culturally specific(Australia-New Zealand, New York, Eastern Europe); media-specific (music representations,subtitled clips); genre-specific (youth, avant-garde art videos, animations, anarchistclips), or based on the topic of online media politics. 21 In many cases, the audience wasdetermined by the theme or the curator selected. When I couldn’t find someone to make anevent—almost no one replied to the open call for ‘guest-hosts’—I curated the event myself,in order to keep up with the negotiated calendar of events with the library.I also knew that I was operating in a legal ‘grey-zone’, and was uncertain as to how I shouldpublicize these events. In early-to-mid 2008, it was not clear to me whether it was legal to17. Kirjasto/Library 10 (2005-), Helsinki, http://www.lib.hel.fi/kirjasto10.18. K. K. Salminen Lämsä, & M. Repo, ‘Library 10 and meetingpoin@lasipalatsi: New Kinds ofLibrary Services in Helsinki City Centre’, Scandinavian Public Library Quarterly, No. 4. (2005):20-23, http://www.splq.info/issues/vol38_4/vol38_4.pdf.19. Andrew G. Paterson, ‘Clip Kino Helsinki’ project (2008-), various locations, Helsinki, http://clipkino.info/ or http://apaterso.info/projects/clipkino/.20. Clip Kino Helsinki guest-host curators at Kirjasto/Library 10, between February- December, 2008:Projekti Sosiaalikeskus (FI), Joanne Richardson (RO), Wojtek Mejor (PL/FI), ‘Orgcult’ Students atStadia Polytechnic: Toni Niemisalo, Akseli Virtanen Joni Happonen, Juhana Lindström, SanteriPakkanen and Teemu Lipasti (all FI), Špela Semion (SI/FI), Kari Yli-Annala (FI), Ann Morrison(NZ/FI), Eyebeam Students-in-Residence: Tahj Banks, Glen Moore, Wandy Marcano, andJayquan Harris (remote, all US), Guild of Bonsai Hackers (UN/FI), Sonja Baumer (remote, US),Andrew Paterson (SCO/FI).21. Clip Kino Helsinki Archive webpage, http://apaterso.info/projects/clipkino/archive.html.