Unlicensed: Bootlegging as Creative Practice

by Ben Schwartz (Editor)

Over the last few decades, the term "bootlegging"--a practice once relegated to smugglers and copyright infringers--has become understood as a creative act. Debates about homage, appropriation and theft, already common in the art world, are now being held in the spheres of corporate branding, social media and the creative industry as a whole. Today, bootlegging has become an aesthetic in and of itself, influencing everything from underground record labels and DIY T-shirts to publishing ideologies and acts of high fashion détournement. Unlicensed, a project by Ben Schwartz, contains 21 interviews with a range of creative practitioners on the topic of bootlegging. Some of these interviews were originally published on the Gradient, the design blog of the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, where Schwartz began his research on bootlegging. These conversations investigate bootlegging's creative and critical potential, and explore new ways it can be deployed in order to thrive as an impactful cultural force.

Genres: Nonfiction, Design, Art

432 pages, Paperback

Published February 20, 2024

About the author

Ben Schwartz (born September 15, 1981) is an American actor, comedian, and writer. He is perhaps best known for portraying Tom Haverford's friend Jean-Ralphio Saperstein on the sitcom Parks and Recreation.

In 2012, he joined Showtime's television comedy House of Lies as the ambitious, brash, and insecure management consultant Clyde Oberholt.

(source: wikipedia)

Reviews

[Zoe Hannay]

some real gems to be found in Unlicensed.
this book is beautifully produced, the graphic execution of themes of inversion/alteration strong. the fidelity of images does suffer tho – recommend having the internet on hand should you want to engage meaningfully with any of the many works mentioned.

interviews vary in length and quality but there are some interesting + valuable ideas expressed. introductory essay written in a style i abhor that many of these pseudo-critical design books from small presses emulate – laden with random references (the inclusions of which are shallowly justified), no chronology, namedropping of theorists/theory inadequately integrated or discussed, an undergraduate-style refusal to draw meaningful conclusions (“…as we remain open to the possibility of what bootleg is, or was, or might be in the future, it leaves us with far more questions than answers. But maybe that’s OK. Maybe all that really means is that today the bootleg is alive and well…”), and criminally under-edited (eg. 2 instances of ‘tenants’ instead of ‘tenets’). Actively disliked the ‘historical timeline’ shoehorning in the work of all featured interviewees.

i still liked this tho

[Aaron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing interviews about different approaches to bootleg art, from t-shirts to copying paintings to music... Essential reading.

[Malcolm Duncan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cool book with various artists sharing their perspectives on bootlegging and authorship.

[Can Lejarraga · Rating 5 out of 5]

he ido dosificando este libro estos meses porque al ser entrevistas alrededor del mismo tema, llegan un punto en el que puede sentirse un poco repetitivo. a pesar de ello, se ha sentido una de las lecturas mas acertadas de este año. siento que mi cerebro ha ido absorbiendo todos los testimonios de estas personas u ahora esta a punto de salir disparado con ganas hacia delante.

nunca habría considerado el acto de “plagiar” (no encuentro una palabra mas similar a bootlegging en español) como algo que homogeneiza las prácticas artísticas, es especial las de diseño gráfico. creo que hay un miedo generalizado que con el alzamiento de las IAs solo ha crecido alrededor del robo de propiedad intelectual dentro del mundo del diseño gráfico, y lo entiendo. uno no quieres que alguien se aproveche económicamente de su trabajo en un campo laboral tan precario como este. dicho esto, creo que hay un reflejo inmediato y hermético a la hora de compartir recursos que nos priva de generar comunidad. para mi, este libro te empuja a generar esta red con otros diseñadores y artistas, y lo hace de la manera más genuina posible. a pesar de ser personas de todo tipo de backgrounds culturales y artísticos, todo el mundo llega a las mismas conclusiones: compartir es nutrir al prójimo. dejo abajo una frase de Matt Olson, parte del libro y comentario que resume muy bien el espíritu del libro:

“What I'm interested in is love. I like to fall in love with things and then move with them. I don't know for sure where that delivers us, or me, but that's why I like it. It's a form of care. I refuse to let the story of authorship and separateness give shape to the things I love. I love motion. I think bootlegs are in motion.”

nos tenemos que hablar más

[fire_on_the_mountain · Rating 5 out of 5]

Essential reading on anyone making art in the Current Moment. Do we really want to be bound by things like IP, copyright, and gatekeeping under force of law? Under this corporatist regime? In this economy?! It’s an almost universal “no, here’s why” in this book, and I got a LOT out of reading these various projects, approaches and personalities. They’re not all bangers but taken together there’s so much here to free your mind in working within this image-saturated, litigiously gatekept internet culture that we are forced to interact within.