REFF – RomaEuropa FakeFactory, or the manipulation of reality

November 30, 2010 5:29 pm

The degeneration of the media today has brought negative connotations to the concept of manipulation – connotations that in this case should be set aside. REFF – RomaEuropa FakeFactory is a book made to be manipulated, helping us to realise that reality is much more flexible than what we are generally willing to accept.
To begin with, the book should be situated within a much broader experience, where manipulation is not just another word for impenetrability and control, but rather a synonym for empowerment and understanding.
The controversy sparked this time round concerns intellectual property, with the announcement of the RomaEuropa Web Factory competition promoted by the RomaEuropa Foundation and Telecom, where the legal disclaimer transfers the intellectual property rights to all works entered to the organisers. As if this were not enough, remixed works and mash-ups were excluded from the competition. The “web” lost no time in its reply. Reactions culminated in the creation of a fake, a competition dedicated to the “Freedom To Remix,” to promote thought and action on the meaning of art, culture and creativity in contemporary society, on models for access, and on the relationship between intellectual property and new business models.
This kicked off a process that has become unstoppable, that through the efforts of all the people involved has become much more than a simple protest.
The whole story can be found on the website http://www.artisopensource.net , but the point is that “the goal of REFF was and is to create a live process, to describe an ecosystem whose inhabitants can choose self-determination.” And in fact the book REFF – RomaEuropa Fake Factory is much more than a book. A first skim of the contents reveals a very accurate choral analysis of issues concerning intellectual property rights. The book is written as a dialogue between the authors and their guests – artists, designers, lawyers, politicians, and writers, presenting a sweeping panorama of views. The views voiced in the dialogues are those of Richard Barbrook, Tatiana Bazzichelli, Andy Cameron, Antonio Caronia, Stefano Coletto, Fiorello Cortiana, Marc Garret, Alex Giordano, Stephen Kovats, Simona Lodi, Luigi Pagliarini, 0100101110101101.ORG, Amy Francescini (Future Farmers), Flyer Communication (FLxER), Derek Holzer, jodi.org, Steve Lambert, Les Liens Invisibles, Adam Somlai-Fischer (Architecture), Sosolimited, and many more.
As regards form, Bruce Sterling in his introduction to the book writes, “It’s quite an interesting book today, but, in retrospect, after half a century, this book ought to be entirely fascinating,” especially due to the augmented reality it offers through additional content accessed via fiduciary markers and QR codes. The book offers a new reading experience that goes beyond the page, giving readers more in-depth information on tablets and smartphones.
Finally, because the authors are convinced that art is open source, they have also released open source tools enabling anyone and everyone to create their own augmented reality publications with relative ease.
Remixing and manipulating, what was once the exclusive realm of music and pictures, now also belongs to the world of paper.
Follow the link below to see Bruce Sterling and Jasmina Tesanovic using the book.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyoOlobkqhU&feature=player_embedded

For more information see:
http://www.romaeuropa.org
http://www.artisopensource.net