Public Domain Punk
The public domain is one of the most punk things ever.
It is radically anti-establishment. Free art, from across human history, forever. It is like a giant lending library of ideas, that you can chop up, copy, subvert, parody, mashup or condemn.
Most of the greatest works of literature and art are free 24/7 and available to you right now through the wonder of the Internet. Shakespeare? Got him. Go nuts. Don’t just read him, argue with him. Make Mercutio a talking dog. Throw John Carter of Mars into Macbeth and see what happens. The Public Domain is not just consumption. By its nature it is reinvention and discovery.
The Renaissance (to the extent there really was a Renaissance), was mostly just people finding old works of literature and art and saying, “This is better than some of the crap they are making now!” And those quasi-medieval punks made some of the best art the world has ever seen.
As humans, we seek novelty. We are enthralled by the new. Just ask the Athenians. That was their jam. We are here on Bear Blog (thanks Herman!) because we want to create and discover new thoughts and ideas. But the past is the ultimate Thrift Store of Radical Threads. Everything is free to try on, take, or take apart. Go explore. Let the styles of the past inspire you to make things no one has ever seen.
Go tell the corporate entertainment machine that you can amuse yourself just fine by chilling with the artists of a couple dozen centuries.
Be a Public Domain Punk
Tools for Exploring the Public Domain
http://radio.publicdomainproject.org/de/index.html
https://www.nga.gov/open-access-images.html
https://archive.org/details/americana
Recent posts