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Duchamp Is My Lawyer: The Polemics, Pragmatics, and Poetics of UbuWeb
In 1996, during the relatively early days of the web, Kenneth Goldsmith created UbuWeb to post hard-to-find works of concrete poetry. What started out as a site to share works from a relatively obscure literary movement grew into an essential archive of twentieth- and twenty-first-century avant-garde and experimental literature, film, and music. Visitors around the world now have access to both obscure and canonical works, from artists such as Kara Walker, Yoko Ono, Pauline Oliveros, Samuel Beckett, Marcel Duchamp, Cecil Taylor, Glenn Ligon, William Burroughs, and Jean-Luc Godard.
In Duchamp Is My Lawyer, Goldsmith tells the history of UbuWeb, explaining the motivations behind its creation and how artistic works are archived, consumed, and distributed online. Based on his own experiences and interviews with a variety of experts, Goldsmith describes how the site navigates issues of copyright and the ways that UbuWeb challenges familiar configurations and histories of the avant-garde. The book also portrays the growth of other "shadow libraries" and includes a section on the artists whose works reflect the aims, aesthetics, and ethos of UbuWeb. Goldsmith concludes by contrasting UbuWeb's commitment to the free-culture movement and giving access to a wide range of artistic works with today's gatekeepers of algorithmic culture, such as Netflix, Amazon, and Spotify.
In Duchamp Is My Lawyer, Goldsmith tells the history of UbuWeb, explaining the motivations behind its creation and how artistic works are archived, consumed, and distributed online. Based on his own experiences and interviews with a variety of experts, Goldsmith describes how the site navigates issues of copyright and the ways that UbuWeb challenges familiar configurations and histories of the avant-garde. The book also portrays the growth of other "shadow libraries" and includes a section on the artists whose works reflect the aims, aesthetics, and ethos of UbuWeb. Goldsmith concludes by contrasting UbuWeb's commitment to the free-culture movement and giving access to a wide range of artistic works with today's gatekeepers of algorithmic culture, such as Netflix, Amazon, and Spotify.
- GenresArtPoetryNonfiction
322 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 28, 2020
8 people are currently reading
178 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
August 9, 2021
Inspiring history of the Ubu Web, complete with philosophy, examples of its vast digital warehouse and a bit of gossip. Thoroughly enjoyed reading the book and learned about more weirdos to obsess about.
May 27, 2025
I had time to kill and I spent it in a Barnes Nobles looking for art books to read. This one caught my attention because of the title and so I bought it even though ‘ Ubuweb’ meant nothing to me. While in a wet,cold, windy May Toronto looking out my 18th floor hotel room window, I started reading. This was a case of having no expectations and being blown away by how this book advanced my imagination spurring on my existing avant-garde tendencies.
First of all Ubuweb is an amazing free website dedicated to archiving and sharing ideas, artists, music, videos, pdfs of avant-garde art that can’t be found anywhere else. Yes there is Duchamp but also the works of far more obscure artists and while not necessarily the easiest site to navigate, who cares? The search is often the reward and pursuing its pages is a flashback to the early Internet before it became a click farm of monetization. The introduction this book provides to Ubuweb would be enough for me to recommend this book. The author, Kenneth Goldsmith, is the sole proprietor of Ubuweb and he is justifiably proud of what he has created.
The book is more than an advertisement for his website. Most importantly it reveals that the bot farms of cease and desist letters that shower anyone borrowing from or utilizing the work of other artists for the sheer joy of their work, are bullies that if stood-up to, often quickly fold. So anyone out there who wants to champion art for the right reason, you needn’t be so afraid. Checkout the top finds on Ubuweb at the end of the book. I am eager to pursue the magazine I dare not write its name, edited by Ed Sanders in the 1960s.
First of all Ubuweb is an amazing free website dedicated to archiving and sharing ideas, artists, music, videos, pdfs of avant-garde art that can’t be found anywhere else. Yes there is Duchamp but also the works of far more obscure artists and while not necessarily the easiest site to navigate, who cares? The search is often the reward and pursuing its pages is a flashback to the early Internet before it became a click farm of monetization. The introduction this book provides to Ubuweb would be enough for me to recommend this book. The author, Kenneth Goldsmith, is the sole proprietor of Ubuweb and he is justifiably proud of what he has created.
The book is more than an advertisement for his website. Most importantly it reveals that the bot farms of cease and desist letters that shower anyone borrowing from or utilizing the work of other artists for the sheer joy of their work, are bullies that if stood-up to, often quickly fold. So anyone out there who wants to champion art for the right reason, you needn’t be so afraid. Checkout the top finds on Ubuweb at the end of the book. I am eager to pursue the magazine I dare not write its name, edited by Ed Sanders in the 1960s.
March 26, 2020
Duchamp Is My Lawyer: The Polemics, Pragmatics, and Poetics of Ubuweb by Kenneth Goldsmith serves as both a guidebook for creating and maintaining open areas of the internet as well as an introduction to ubuweb as both archive and artwork. Yes, I used both twice, sorry, this isn't something I am going to edit so...
I almost gave it a better rating but that would have been less about the book and more about me. I was unfamiliar with ubuweb before this book, which is why I wanted to read about it, and now I go there daily to explore a little more. While the book is very interesting and a wealth of information, I was not overly taken with the authorial voice. Nothing off-putting about it, but in the sections that appealed to me least it didn't succeed in keeping me engaged. That said, this book offers so much that it will be hard for every section to be equally appealing to every reader.
The information and history of how he started the site and the copyright/permission issues is surprisingly interesting. I say that because I don't deal with those issues in my world so they would normally be something I would find moderately interesting simply as background. Goldsmith does such a good job of contextualizing everything (within the larger history of the internet as well as within his own desires and interest in the site) that copyright conflicts were actually interesting. Who woulda thunk it?
I was mainly interested in the holdings, why they were chosen (because they were available and he felt like it!) and whether there was an overarching theme to the site (only in the very loosest and broadest terms). What I didn't expect was to begin to understand art in a slightly different way. The idea of poorer quality copies having a place and a collection of such copies being the equivalent of a live ongoing art installation. Plus the laudable task of broadening the definition and perception of avant-garde art.
I would recommend this to anyone interested in how to keep at least some of the internet free and open, copyright issues as they apply to online posting and sharing, and those interested in avant-garde art. These topics are all woven into a compelling narrative not often found in nonfiction books about the internet.
Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.
I almost gave it a better rating but that would have been less about the book and more about me. I was unfamiliar with ubuweb before this book, which is why I wanted to read about it, and now I go there daily to explore a little more. While the book is very interesting and a wealth of information, I was not overly taken with the authorial voice. Nothing off-putting about it, but in the sections that appealed to me least it didn't succeed in keeping me engaged. That said, this book offers so much that it will be hard for every section to be equally appealing to every reader.
The information and history of how he started the site and the copyright/permission issues is surprisingly interesting. I say that because I don't deal with those issues in my world so they would normally be something I would find moderately interesting simply as background. Goldsmith does such a good job of contextualizing everything (within the larger history of the internet as well as within his own desires and interest in the site) that copyright conflicts were actually interesting. Who woulda thunk it?
I was mainly interested in the holdings, why they were chosen (because they were available and he felt like it!) and whether there was an overarching theme to the site (only in the very loosest and broadest terms). What I didn't expect was to begin to understand art in a slightly different way. The idea of poorer quality copies having a place and a collection of such copies being the equivalent of a live ongoing art installation. Plus the laudable task of broadening the definition and perception of avant-garde art.
I would recommend this to anyone interested in how to keep at least some of the internet free and open, copyright issues as they apply to online posting and sharing, and those interested in avant-garde art. These topics are all woven into a compelling narrative not often found in nonfiction books about the internet.
Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.
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December 20, 2022Exactly the subtitle - intro to UbuWeb/Goldsmith memoir. Poetics/aesthetics of the site/Goldsmith is the focus, with thousands of breadcrumbs scattered within several narratives - illustrative of this project is the section "From Ursonate to Re-sonate". Goldsmith fleshes-out Schwitters' opus Ursonate, flows quickly through Jaap Blonk, lingers with Tracie Morris, floats with Cecil Taylor, and concludes with Henri Chopin and John Cage (having also noted scores of works and artists in the 20pp). While Goldsmith/Ubu is a repository of canonical Avant-Garde, there is also an effort to problematize the white, male, Euro-centrisism of this canon. To this end, the book is as much about the recreation of canons - re-mixing, transforming, and discovering. And free culture :)
August 20, 2020
Excellent history and introduction to shadow libraries and this interesting site, ubu.com. Very similar to my project at sareview.org.
November 6, 2023
Great deep dive into the origins and ethos of UbuWeb, an online goldmine of avant-garde artworks spanning the 20th century. The book straddles different worlds and different tones and is in a not-quite-academic register, though it verges on it at times. As the title suggests, the book focuses on UbuWeb's approach to surviving online as an experimental citizen library and archive, covering the culture that has emerged in and around UbuWeb through the lenses of polemics, pragmatics, and poetics.
As fascinating (and obscure) as much of the subject matter is, the book is a bit of a wholesome mess like the site is. The polemics and most of the pragmatics feel focused and informative, like a radical update of what you might learn in a college media theory class. In the latter half of pragmatics and most of poetics, things get a lot looser and more abstract—there are profiles of many different avant-garde artists and their approaches and some of them are very engaging, but they aren't as linked into the main mission of the book, in a sense. This is okay, I guess, but in another world it would've been cool to see one book more about UbuWeb the entity and another book about the creative world of UbuWeb that focused on just the artists' stories, their output, etc. But ultimately, I'm nitpicking, and you can always skim around the back however suits you.
Overall, this is a very dense, consciousness-expanding, and one-of-a-kind book about art's never-ending battle with technology and the law—and with its own history and tendencies toward elitism and hierarchy. There are so, so many gems listed in here for further reading, exploration, and inspiration! No book has ever gotten me quite so excited about libraries and all of their secret possibilities.
As fascinating (and obscure) as much of the subject matter is, the book is a bit of a wholesome mess like the site is. The polemics and most of the pragmatics feel focused and informative, like a radical update of what you might learn in a college media theory class. In the latter half of pragmatics and most of poetics, things get a lot looser and more abstract—there are profiles of many different avant-garde artists and their approaches and some of them are very engaging, but they aren't as linked into the main mission of the book, in a sense. This is okay, I guess, but in another world it would've been cool to see one book more about UbuWeb the entity and another book about the creative world of UbuWeb that focused on just the artists' stories, their output, etc. But ultimately, I'm nitpicking, and you can always skim around the back however suits you.
Overall, this is a very dense, consciousness-expanding, and one-of-a-kind book about art's never-ending battle with technology and the law—and with its own history and tendencies toward elitism and hierarchy. There are so, so many gems listed in here for further reading, exploration, and inspiration! No book has ever gotten me quite so excited about libraries and all of their secret possibilities.
February 19, 2024
fascinating and essential text to anyone with an interest in ubuweb or shadow libraries in general or copyright in art or whatever.. lots of interesting anecdotes and stories about art i would've never heard about otherwise. i had problems whenever i went to read it because i'd always walk away with a new load of art to check out.
November 15, 2021
I just have to read this again and again and again. Dense inspiration, information, tips and clues to sprawling endless inspiration. Again and again.
June 16, 2024
After buying and reading this book, my only regret is buying this book.
April 28, 2020
The book is about Ubuweb, which certainly will lead readers to check online what's Ubeweb is, and it pops up with a "not secure" notion in front of the web address, you are about right, the book will do the explanation. I like the introduction a lot, although felt a bit long. The book is dealing with a lot of ideas, thoughts and pursues that the author has behind the Ubuweb, and it can get very specific, and for readers who are looking for very exact case studies or informations, this book could be very helpful.
The contrast given by the book cover and the dull yet passionated text is one of the interesting point for me. It was very well explained in the introduction, and I would praise for author's persistent on it.
The contrast given by the book cover and the dull yet passionated text is one of the interesting point for me. It was very well explained in the introduction, and I would praise for author's persistent on it.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews