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[The May Queen lights the second fire]<br />
# Here/There<br />
There is no longer an archive that is<br />
yours entirely. Neither an archive completely<br />
open to all. The divide between<br />
private and public networks, copies and<br />
performances does not comply anymore.<br />
What’s left are networks through which<br />
you have more or less access to different<br />
archives. There are localities and communities<br />
to take part in, technical and social<br />
barriers to access, but there is no fundamental<br />
difference between a copy from<br />
your external hard drive and one from an<br />
open file-sharing network.<br />
File-sharing has a potential to create<br />
meaning, community and context -- a<br />
bigger potential than most other forms<br />
of reproduction. We want to keep talking<br />
about how that potential may be realized<br />
in the best manner possible, how<br />
cultural circulation can be organized<br />
and how the unleashed forces of the<br />
open archives can be used for more that<br />
stacking a pile of objects which we care<br />
less and less about. However, we want<br />
to stop explaining why file-sharing is<br />
righteous or not - as if there was a choice<br />
between copying and non-copying.<br />
90<br />
[The May Queen sets the third pile on<br />
fire]<br />
# Free/Charge<br />
To ask if distribution of film and music<br />
should be free or cost money is like asking<br />
if it should be free or cost money to<br />
attend a party. Sometimes, someone<br />
manages to charge a toll when we want<br />
to enter a space that summons something<br />
better than the spaces that are<br />
free, but no one would even think of<br />
banning free parties. When do you actually<br />
have a party, and when are you just<br />
having some fun?
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