Aug 2, 2017
TED
In my search for discussions on wider appropriation I happened upon a TED Talk by Kirby Ferguson where he discussed the merits of what he calls ‘the remix’. He talks about folk music reusing similar song structures, be it Dylan from Guthrie; Guthrie himself from the Carter family and Apple’s Steve Jobs using the work of others to push things forward. This talk was really interesting to me as it kind of pushed the idea that nothing is truly 100% original. Everything has a start point, a previous incarnation if you will. However, just because you’re borrowing of an older thing, doesn’t mean you can’t improve upon it and create a totally unique work.
https://www.ted.com/talks/kirby_ferguson_embrace_the_remix#t-27579