Elizabeth Wickett : Patronage, commodification and the dissemination of performance art: the shared benefits of web archiving

Duration: 17 mins 45 secs

Description:	Documentation of oral performance traditions by scholars, for scholars, was once the norm. However, professional musicians now regard financial remuneration as key. We must ensure that the performers benefit from ‘documentation’ in order to support the perpetuation of their livelihood and cultural legacy. Because of digital technology and the emergence of the internet as a broadcasting forum and marketing agent, a phenomenon has occurred which we might term the ‘commodification’ of expressive culture. In this technological universe where sounds and images are sold for the benefit of some (but not others), issues of copyright, intellectual property rights and the commercialisation and marketing of expressive culture on the web have become paramount. Performer and scholar should agree the appropriate performance context prior to recording, (fully cognisant of the ramifications and consequences of web archival reproduction) and approve the final product. Good sound and image quality is vital if the resultant DVD is to be sold, but this is a challenge in remote, non-electrified environments in which performances are spontaneously composed. Reproductive rights by each party and contexts of reproduction must be negotiated and determined prior to web broadcast because of issues pertaining to veiling, disclosure, censorship and identification. Artifacts (digital or material) are invested with power and context. Words, like artifacts, are similarly embodied and can become ‘dangerous’ if uttered in inappropriate performance domains. Beliefs which proscribe transference and dislocation of rituals into alien contexts need to be respected. If the filming or audio recording is done to professional standards, DVDs can be reproduced and copied for profit by the performer. The ethnographer then becomes both patron and marketeer, in partnership with the performance artist. The archive, in consequence, once a passive repository, becomes a dual purpose facility, a potential launching board for sales and site of comparative research.

Description:

Documentation of oral performance traditions by scholars, for scholars, was once the norm. However, professional musicians now regard financial remuneration as key. We must ensure that the performers benefit from ‘documentation’ in order to support the perpetuation of their livelihood and cultural legacy.

Because of digital technology and the emergence of the internet as a broadcasting forum and marketing agent, a phenomenon has occurred which we might term the ‘commodification’ of expressive culture. In this technological universe where sounds and images are sold for the benefit of some (but not others), issues of copyright, intellectual property rights and the commercialisation and marketing of expressive culture on the web have become paramount.
Performer and scholar should agree the appropriate performance context prior to recording, (fully cognisant of the ramifications and consequences of web archival reproduction) and approve the final product. Good sound and image quality is vital if the resultant DVD is to be sold, but this is a challenge in remote, non-electrified environments in which performances are spontaneously composed. Reproductive rights by each party and contexts of reproduction must be negotiated and determined prior to web broadcast because of issues pertaining to veiling, disclosure, censorship and identification. Artifacts (digital or material) are invested with power and context. Words, like artifacts, are similarly embodied and can become ‘dangerous’ if uttered in inappropriate performance domains. Beliefs which proscribe transference and dislocation of rituals into alien contexts need to be respected.

If the filming or audio recording is done to professional standards, DVDs can be reproduced and copied for profit by the performer. The ethnographer then becomes both patron and marketeer, in partnership with the performance artist. The archive, in consequence, once a passive repository, becomes a dual purpose facility, a potential launching board for sales and site of comparative research.

Created:

2011-01-19 16:14

Collection:

World Oral Literature Project Workshop 2010

Publisher:

University of Cambridge

World Oral Literature Project

Language:

eng (English)

Keywords:

intellectual property; patronage; performance art;

Credits:

Actor:	Elizabeth Wickett
Editor:	Glenn Jobson

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