After the videos of Charles Leadbeater at Incubate Festival 2010 and Matt Mason’s keynote at the Incubate Pirate Conference, here is the video for the panel discussion following Matt Mason’s keynote speech at the Incubate Pirate Conference.

The Pirate Conference offered reflection on the comprehensive piracy-program of Incubate Festival and on the value of creation in society. What do artists think about the current state of issues? How can they best react to the current operation of copyright? What strategies, tactics and interventions can be used? How do we shape creativity and innovation as a society, and what could businesses learn from these tactics?

2nd part of the panel discussion after this break –> Read the rest of this entry »

After the videos of Charles Leadbeater at Incubate Festival 2010 came online last week, we now have the video for Matt Mason‘s keynote speech at the Incubate Pirate Conference, which took place on September 17. Expect videos of the panel following Matt Mason’s keynote speech to be online tomorrow.

The Pirate Conference offered reflection on the comprehensive piracy-program of Incubate Festival and on the value of creation in society. What do artists think about the current state of issues? How can they best react to the current operation of copyright? What strategies, tactics and interventions can be used? How do we shape creativity and innovation as a society, and what could businesses learn from these tactics?

Matt Mason, recently proclaimed Pirate of the Year by Week Bussines, gave the keynote speech. He earned this title as author of the book Piracy, which topped both Amazon’s economy and rap/hip hop bestseller lists. Mason was a DJ at a pirate radio station and a club in London, produced TV series, comics, videos and records, and his articles have appeared in The Guardian, The Independent and Vice among others. In his book Mason shows how operating methods of various underground scenes and trends have become global industries over the past years.

Expect more videos from Rob Scholte, Xavier Le Roy & Mårten Spångberg and Hank Shocklee online the coming days.

On September 12, Charles Leadbeater opened the Incubate festival week with a lecture on social innovation and the role the arts can play in this process. What’s the role of a changing arts practice in a changing society? Watch Charles Leadbeater’s innovation lecture above.

Charles Leadbeater is a leading authority on innovation and creativity. He is Tony Blair’s favorite corporate thinker. He has advised companies, cities and governments on innovation strategy and drew on that experience in writing his latest book We-think: the power of mass creativity. This book charts the rise of mass, participative approaches to innovation from science and open source software, to computer games and political campaigning.

After Charles’ keynote lecture, a panel of experts from the fields of arts, economy and politics took place. The panelists in the discussion were Wim van de Donk, Dick Rijken, Bas van Heur and Wout Withagen. Roy van Dalm moderated the panel. Watch the panel discussion below.

(Photo by Sebastiaan ter Burg)

Yesterday’s Pirate Conference was a great success for the Incubate Festival; lots of visitors, press, and most importantly: very interesting and inspiring lectures and debate. We would like to thank all lecturers and panel members,  all visitors or people who told their friends they should come, the volunteers, and the people working for the conference. You made our day! Expect videos of the lectures coming up sometime this week. In the meanwhile, here is a report of the conference (in Dutch) that Saul van Stapele wrote in NRC Handelsblad today:
Also read the articles that Tilburgers.nl and Lost Painters wrote, and check out some photos Sebastiaan ter Burg made at the Pirate Conference. Here are some great tweets from the people that were at the conference:

This blogpost is in Dutch, because the article it refers to is also in Dutch.

Op de Incubate Pirate Conference leidt Atze de Vrieze (3voor12) morgen het panel na de keynote speech van Matt Mason. Op zijn blog plaatste Atze gisteren een mooi artikel over piraterij / voorbeschouwing van de conferentie. Lees hem hier in zijn geheel.

“Feit is – daar ben ik van overtuigd – dat piraterij niet meer weg gaat. De hardnekkige pogingen van bestrijders doen denken aan een spelletje van drie lange jongens die de bal van een klein jongetje overgooien. Waarom het niet meer weg gaat? Omdat er technisch zoveel mogelijk is dat het niet te stoppen is. Maar vooral: omdat het helemaal te gek is. Dat moeten de meeste artiesten/muziekprofessionals ook zien. Zij zijn toch ook muziekliefhebbers? DJ /rupture zag het. De dj uit New York is vrijdag ook te gast in het panel na afloop van Matt Mason’s lezing. Rupture schreef in 2007 een ode aan Oink, een torrentcommunity die door politie en piraterijbestrijders uit de lucht gehaald werd. Defending The Pig, naar het schattige varkentje uit het logo.”

“Oink was inderdaad geweldig. Je kon er alles vinden wat je maar wilde, in gegarandeerd hoge kwaliteit. Die garantie ging zelfs zo ver dat het gratis te downloaden Radiohead-album In Rainbows, dat uit 160 kbps mp3′s bestond, er vanaf gegooid werd wegens slecht geluid. Rupture zegt er dit over: “Oink had everything by certain artists. Literally, everything. I searched for ‘DJ Rupture’ and found every release I’d ever done, from an obscure 7″ on a Swedish label to 320kpbs rips of my first 12″, self-released back in 1999. It was shocking. And reassuring. The big labels want music to equal money, but as much as anything else, music is memory, as priceless and worthless as memory. About a week after I shipped out orders of the first live CD-r Andy Moor & I did, it appeared on Oink. Someone who had purchased it directly from me turned around and posted it online, for free. I wasn’t mad, I was just more stunned by the reach and usefulness of the site.”

Here’s a quick update on the panel following Matt Mason’s keynote speech at the Incubate Pirate Conference this Friday. Paul Keller will replace Martijn Arnoldus as Creative Commons panel member.

Outside Knowledgeland, Paul is a member of the iCommons board, an international organisation that strives for a free, open access culture, open software and open education. Furthermore, Paul coordinates the contacts between Creative Commons and collective management organisations and is a member of the advice committee of Virtual Platform.

Tickets for the Incubate Pirate Conference are still available but selling fast. Be quick, pay what you want!

This blogpost is in Dutch, because the article it refers to is also in Dutch.

In de huidige editie van De Groene Amsterdammer is een interview te vinden met Matt Mason, de keynote spreker op de Incubate Pirate Conference op 17 september in Midi Theater Tilburg. Het artikel is getiteld ‘We zijn allemaal piraten’ en gaat over de ontstaansgeschiedenis en ontwikkeling van piraterij. Het laat zien hoe ver piraterij is doorgedrongen in onze cultuur, en naar mening van Mason, niet meer zal verdwijnen. De vraag rest dan nog: hoe hiermee om te gaan? Het hele interview is te lezen op de site van De Groene Amsterdammer.

“Een van die goede dingen is het land waar Mason nu woont: ‘Amerika is gesticht op een mentaliteit van piraterij. Schijt aan de Engelse koning, we doen het hier op onze manier. Dat libertarisme zit nog steeds in de Amerikaanse cultuur. De term Yankee is afgeleid van het Nederlandse woord janke, dat piraat betekent – Europeanen noemden Amerikanen piraten omdat ze structureel internationale eigendomsrechten negeerden. Zoals China tegenwoordig Amerikaanse producten kopieert. Het is precies de manier waarop Amerika ooit zo snel industrialiseerde: door Europese auteursrechten te schenden.’”

“De jeugdcultuur was door de geschiedenis heen altijd een soort R&D-lab waar je op een betrouwbare manier verschillende denkwijzen kon uitproberen. Door de manier waarop jongeren het internet gebruiken, gaat dat niet meer: de een organiseert dansfeestjes in een loft in New York om zo het systeem te veranderen, anderen hacken de CIA en geven de aldus gevonden informatie door aan WikiLeaks. Tegelijkertijd zijn typische aspecten van de jeugdcultuur, zoals muziek en stijl, niet langer gebonden aan lokale en nationale grenzen omdat kwaadaardige marketeers zoals ik als gieren boven op de trends zitten. Reclamebureaus zijn altijd op zoek geweest naar betekenis in de cultuur, maar we zijn nog nooit zo meedogenloos geweest als nu. De pogingen van de grote merken om zich al zo vroeg mogelijk te associëren met een nieuwe trend leiden tot een zeker nihilisme. Hipsters zijn niet meer geïnteresseerd in het systeem veranderen, ze zeggen alleen maar: ik draag een merkloos T-shirt, man.”

Tickets voor de Incubate Pirate Conference zijn te koop via deze site. Om de toegankelijkheid te waarborgen en om aan te sluiten bij het thema Piraterij, heeft het festival ervoor gekozen het Pay What You Want principe te hanteren. Hiermee beslist de bezoeker zelf wat de waarde is van de conferentie en een dergelijke maatschappelijke discussie.

Yesterday, Dutch blog EHPO (Eerste Hulp bij Plaatopnamen) posted an interview from Dutch musician/producer/blogger Pim van de Werken with Matt Mason. In the interview, the outlines of piracy are discussed; where does piracy stop and plagiarism start? How should the music industry compete with piracy? What does Matt Mason think should change in current copyright law? Also, the possible effect of the ACTA treaty is being discussed:

What impact will the ACTA treaty have on piracy? If Internet Service Providers (ISP’s) have to filter content, what will be the impact on piracy?
“The impact on piracy will be negligible but the impact on our ideas about free speech and privacy will be very negative. You don’t win wars against piracy with new laws alone; you win them with market-based solutions. You win by finding a legal and beneficial way for society to permit that activity. But ACTA is happening whether we like it or not. No one who should be listening to these ideas is listening.”

Read the full post on EHPO. The blogpost is in Dutch, but the interview is in English. Want to hear more from Matt Mason? Come and visit his keynote speech at the Incubate Pirate Conference on September 17 in Midi Theater, Tilburg. Tickets are for sale here and are Pay What You Want.

On September 12, Charles Leadbeater will open the Incubate festival week with a lecture on social innovation and the role the arts can play in this process. Charles Leadbeater is a leading authority on innovation and creativity. He is Tony Blair’s favourite corporate thinker. He has advised companies, cities and governments on innovation strategy and drew on that experience in writing his latest book We-think: the power of mass creativity. This book charts the rise of mass, participative approaches to innovation from science and open source software, to computer games and political campaigning.

In 2009, Charles Leadbeater wrote the essay ‘The Art of With’; a most interesting and highly recommended text on the practices of the (avant garde) art and how it stands in opposition to the art and the world of to and for:

Often in the name of doing things for people traditional, hierarchical organisations end up doing things to people. Companies say they work for consumers but often treat them like targets to be aimed at, wallets to be emptied, desires to be excited and manipulated.

The arts, and the modern avant garde in particular, has stood in opposition to this commodified, regimented world of to and for. The arts offer a space for contemplation and reflection, challenge and controversy, higher meanings and deeper purpose. Yet in its way the modern art world and modern arts institutions embody the principles of to and for just as powerfully as the modern factory or school.

The modern, iconoclastic avant garde starts from the idea of separation and specialism. To produce good art, artists have to separate themselves off from the society around them – physically, emotionally, morally, socially – the artist as a self-styled resistance fighter pitted against the trivialising distractions of popular culture. The untrammelled imagination of the avant garde artist is one of the last redoubts against bourgeoise, traditional, commodified culture.

Further on in the essay, Leadbeater goes on talking about the resemblances and role of the web within this context; how the art and the web of with drive innovation:

The appeal of the web, however, stems from the way it connects to and amplifies the idea of with in other areas of life. The working ethos of open source communities, Wikipedia and the web more generally is a culture in which people work with people. In the world of the web the main principle is that you can freely communicate with anyone you need to regardless of title or hierarchy.

Innovation invariably comes from a version of with: creative collaboration and conversation in which people share and blend their ideas. With should be the guiding principle of politics in liberal communities: politicians working with people to find solutions to shared problems. People want a more gown up, bottom up, conversational politics rather than being spun messages or broadcast to from on high.

Download the full essay by Charles Leadbeater here in a pdf file. The text is licensed under Creative Commons. Presale for the Charles Leadbeater lecture & panel has begun. Tickets are for sale through the website of Incubate.