hi,
i've been reading all these posts about the next droplift project,
and i've come to the conclusion that it's a pretty interesting
project. here's why, in my view:
the name 'droplift' suggests an act of charity, saying WE are the
wealthy ones, and it's those poor deprived people who only know and
consume mainstream culture who are the impoverished ones who need our
help. they are starving for something good, they may not realize it
even, but they are hungry for more than what the 'cultural production
apparatus' (sorry about that whiff of marxism) can give them. we, the
'alternatives', the 'experimental musicians', have plenty of the
'good stuff' so we should share it. it's selfish to do otherwise!
this completely congruent with the anti-copyright position on sharing
and free access to and re-use of existing cultural works.
that said, it is beside the point that chain stores are collecting
money for something they had no part in supporting or bringing to be.
the amounts are truly paltry in the scheme of things. the droplifters
are above petty monetary concerns. what's important is that the good
culture get to the poor, the culturally underfed.
this is positively (and beautifully, i might add) dadaist in its
arrogance. it also has the illogic of dada, but beyond that, it seems
to me that it's an extremely interesting way to turn the tables,
reversing the normal terms of the dialog. suddenly WE are in control,
we hold the reins of the dialog -- at least as regards this topic. it
insists that people look closely at the 'normal' state of things to
critique it.
to reinforce the aspects that i have outlined here, the project needs
to be carried out with bold aggressive self-assurance, even swagger.
people doing the droplift need to go in wearing droplift t-shirts,
accompanied by a friend with a video camera, and putting these items
on the store shelves. droplifters need to solve issues of server
space, etc, to put any and all documentation collected on their web
site.
beyond that, they should make their own record bin dividers with
'droplift' written on them, to declare a section of the filing bins
for the record(s) they drop. this is a beautiful satire of
colonialism.
in short, the act of the droplift needs to become the moment of art,
and more attention needs to be paid to it. the cd itself becomes
almost incidental. asking contributors to pay 50 bucks is also okay,
since this is charity, right? help the needy and all that stuff that
makes you feel good about yourself.
i'd be interested to hear people's comments on my take on this. in
support of the droplift project, the tape-beatles will donate $50 to
pay for any artist who has a track but can't affort the fee.
Lloyd Dunn
The Tape-beatles -- P.O. Box 3326 -- Iowa City IA 52244 -- USA
http://pwp.detritus.net/
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