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and explains clearly how it involves far cultural studies academics, government modes of aesthetic judgment: “The art
more than simply free software applica- decision/policy makers and of course world should be seen as the socially
tions such as Open Office or Linux. If members of the legal profession. codified manifestation of the fun-
we accept the notion that “knowledge is I think it is fair to say that open damental equality between all visual
power,” this book argues, source has moved on from its innocent forms, objects, and media” (p. 14).
infancy into adolescence and thus far This, Groys concedes, is an old idea,
All of these concerns amount to a re-
orientation of knowledge and power that is more debate and investigation into its with its origins (as with so much else
incomplete and emergent, and whose nature is required. This book goes a in Art Power) in the work of Marcel
implications reach directly into the long way in forming a foundation for Duchamp. More pertinently, it can be
heart of the legitimacy, certainty, reli- such further informed inquiry. The read as an expanded version of Perry
ability and especially the finality and “Conclusion,” at the end of Part III, has Anderson’s claim that aesthetic plural-
temporality of the knowledge and infra-
structures we collectively create (p. 6). some surprising suggestions and recom- ism might save us from the tyranny of
mendations and very succinctly sums chronologically defined art, from mod-
The book is well written, well argued, up the evolving, mutable nature of Open ernism, postmodernism, and, presum-
and extremely well researched. It is Source/Free Software. In Kelty’s own ably, the threat of post-postmodernism
arranged in three parts, of 10 chapters, words, [1]. Compare, for example:
together with an Introduction, Index,
extensive Notes and a comprehensive A question remains, though: in chang- The axes of aesthetic life would, in
ing, does Free Software and its kin other words . . . run horizontally, not
Bibliography. preserve the imagination of moral and vertically [2].
Part I, “The Internet,” “introduces technical order that created it? Is the
the reader to the concept of recursive recursive public something that sur- with:
publics by exploring the lives, works, vives, orders, or makes sense of these
changes? Does Free Software exist for Hence, it is not to the “vertical” infin-
and discussions of an international
more than its own sake? (p. 301) ity of divine truth that the artist today
community of geeks brought together
makes reference, but to the “horizon-
by shared interest in the Internet” (p. 5). I for one believe absolutely that it tal” infinity of aesthetically equal im-
Part II, “Free Software,” moves away does, but don’t take my word for it; ages (p. 17).
from the ethnographic approach and read and enjoy the book and come to
presents a “historically detailed portrait your own informed conclusion. Anderson’s conclusion has become
of the emergence of Free Software and Groys’s premise. The next step is for
why it has emerged at this point in his- Groys to explain that within the logic
tory” (p. 5). ART POWER of equal aesthetic rights, the sole crite-
Part III, “Modulations,” re-engages by Boris Groys. MIT Press, Cambridge, rion for judgment rests on the degree
the ethnographic approach and dis- MA, U.S.A., 2008. 224 pp. Trade. ISBN: to which an artwork can be said to
cusses in detail “two related projects 0-262-07292-0. promote and sustain aesthetic diversity.
inspired by Free Software”: “Creative Twenty years on from Anderson and 80
Commons, a nonprofit organization Reviewed by Boris Jardine, Department of from Fountain, we might be forgiven for
that creates copyright licenses, and History and Philosophy of Science, Univer- thinking that this is a particularly feeble
Connexions, a project to develop an sity of Cambridge. E-mail: <bj210@cam. move. But for Groys it is the necessary,
online scholarly textbook commons” ac.uk>. basic assumption on which critical and
(p. 6). curatorial apparatus must be based.
Much of Kelty’s argument rests on Extracting a sustained argument from
what he calls “recursive publics,” and Art Power is no easy task. It purports to
this is the nitty-gritty of why Open be a program piece but is in fact a set
Source is a quiet, nonviolent revolu- of “collected essays.” It is not surpris-
tion (à la Gandhi) and is inextricably ing, therefore, that there is a peculiar
involved in power struggles, large and mix of circularity and jumpiness in its
small corporate business and global narrative—Groys repeats himself on
politics. “Recursive publics are publics numerous occasions, even quoting the
concerned with the ability to build, same source twice, but each repetition
control, modify, and maintain the infra- brings a subtly different emphasis. The
structure that allows them to come into effect is disconcerting; there is a certain
being in the first place” (p. 7). scattergun quality to Groys’s thinking.
Considering the scope of the sub- His generalizing, powerful and contrary
ject matter, the book is not especially tone is all that persists from start to
steeped in technical jargon and is finish.
therefore highly readable for a wide Yet there is a line—one of many, no
and varied audience. Contrary to first doubt—that can be drawn through Art
impression, this book is not specifi- Power, one that shows just what this kind
cally directed towards geeks, software of high aesthetic theory can achieve.
code authors or other computer nerds, It begins in the first essay, on the rela-
although these individuals will find the tionship between chronology, art and
book informative and inspiring. It also difference. Here Groys argues for the
should be read by all who have posi- “equality of aesthetic rights”—for the