I think that as artists and designers, we all draw inspiration and/or are influenced by many different things, whether consciously or unconsciously. Different things being circumstances, family, friends, other artists, objects, architecture, science, literature, and literally anything and everything else. I feel that a lot of art is produced out of a response to something, be it external or internal, and that as social beings, it is only our nature to share experiences, which can be born regardless; through interaction or non-interaction.

As we progress into the future, we are becoming an increasingly comparative society. I don’t think we would be reaching a superlative status anytime soon. We have more freedom; of thought, of expression. Technology is better than ever before, allowing for better communication, faster connectivity, wider reach, more and more of everything.

LIMITS NO LONGER EXIST.

In Randall Packer’s essay, he described how the artist studio used to be a finite space, and how it has expanded into an ever-expanding realm of cyberspace.

Truly, the internet has allowed for a wealth of possibilities. In Packer’s words, we are now able to “move and roam beyond the physical world: opening up new potentialities for collaborative research and peer-to-peer artistic production amplified by the network“. All these inventions have been continuously developing, and one such product of the development is the open source system, whose main idea is to create a free, open database for everyone to use each others’ ideas to develop their own artistic, intellectual purposes. This however contradicts or confuses the idea that creative people should be credited and monetarily compensated for their work just as an engineer is compensated for their inventions.

I think that a compromise is what is most appropriate. Of course, we must recognise artists for their original ideas and creativity, but we should also be generous in sharing them and collaborating with others, because only then ideas can be developed into something greater. It would be nice to make use of the variety in our thinking, ideas, and help each other improve.

Think of 5 gardeners who each have a single, different tool. Sure they can take care of their plant with their single tool, but only with sharing tools and working with each other, would they be able to cultivate a beautiful garden.

We have it easy – we have this database technology. It’s up to us. We could choose to be cooped up in our own worlds and create isolated bubbles surrounding our selves, or we could use it to cultivate a conducive place for learning and growing.

You choose.