Webspinna Battle

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1meGy8LjGNMfWc-RZJfS56CJTi2hgBYHq9R6cqFSCZuw/edit?usp=sharing

There is a difference between creating through the gathering of knowledge from previous creators, and just plain copying. However, the definition of plagiarism has been stretched and appropriated by the masses, interpreted to mean different things to different people in different circumstances. However, throughout time, we have seen in society and in personal lives a reach for the basics and foundations in order to create. Through a collective of past concepts or happenings new things come to be. That is what makes this Webspinna assignment so interesting: taking already-made pieces come to life in a different--still stemmed from the original, way. Balancing the experiences, the references, and the connections from life in our art becomes an art. These manifest through a collection of pre established notions and ideas, but still unique because the creator is different; the creator is making something derived from personal and referenced ideas or occurrences.

This assignment, at first, seemed kind of like plagiarism. But, after analyzing the way we attain knowledge: From a foundation of almost “canonical” ideas or formulas known and worked in the past, it makes more sense why this isn’t really direct, or misused. In “The Ecstasy of Influence”, Jonathan Lethem explains how “Most artists are brought to their vocation when their own nascent gifts are awakened by the work of a master.” Meaning that through art, more art is created. It is impossible to draw solely from one’s own uniqueness or originality when “Art is sourced” (Lethem).

For our webspinna battle, we used the concepts“youth” and “age”. The connotations of the two made these concepts fun to work with because they lied in the appropriation of each-- each concept is determined by what mainstream ideas and music are considered to be: young or old. For example, we had Age play a slow, French instrumental song. Songs that are slow-paced with certain instruments seem to relate to older people, or things of the past. In contrast, for youth, we played a futuristic techno song. Finding songs wasn’t based exclusively on a work’s time period. We also used songs that explicitly mentioned a particular concept, like, when Youth suddenly appeared as a reflection in Age’s mirror, used a breaking sound effect to break out, and tuned into the song “We Are Young” by Fun. Considering the topic of the week, we thought it fitting to use songs that had new remixes. We used the song “Stand By Me” by John Lennon and interrupted it by the newer bachata version by Prince Royce.

Seeing as everything can be sourced, and without sources there is no “new” art, our own webspinna battle wasn’t really “original”, but it was made in exactly that way by us, so in a way, it was. Even though nerve-wracking, having to stream everything live added to the fun experience, and we learned about the challenge of live storytelling. We applied knowledge from previous experiences and learnings and were able to come up with a battle between “youth” and “age”.

Marely Lee and Jaye Abhau