Bad Artists Copy. Good Artists Steal.*

Singing Celara brings out the message in Jamie O'Neil's video, "The Medium is the Mix," saying: "...O'Neil makes the statement that no idea is unique, we simply mix other people's ideas into our own words and situations" (Singing Celara). In addition, I think blogger Writing Moves makes an excellent point in her newest blog post, "Reading Response 4: Language Altering Media," by talking about the use of HTML and coding as a new form of writing. She says, "Writing in our digital age can still mean words, but it can also mean programming" (Writing Moves).

I would argue that these two ideas are contradictory. O'Neil's suggestion that no idea is unique simply because we employ a mix of mediums is obsolete in the eyes of the digital age. Writing Move's blog post pulls in the example from Kenneth Goldsmith's "Revenge of the Text," where the author disrupts an image of Shakespeare by inserting a sonnet into the HTML coding. Here are the before and after images:

By inserting the "word language" (the sonnet) into the "coding language" (the HTML), Goldsmith has managed to create something completely new. It did not exist before he conceived and produced it, and I think that O'Neil's argument is weak in light Goldsmith's work. In addition, mixing mediums to create new art is not a concept exclusive to the digital age. Pablo Picasso's "Guitar" is considered a renowned, unique piece of artwork and it is made from a mix of preexisting material. Here it is if you've never seen it: 

I think that Goldsmith's ideas, as well as the concept of mash-ups as art form, may have taken a page from Picasso's book. By doing so, another layer of artistry has been added to the production of the written word (coding and non-coding). 

*This is a quote from Pablo Picasso, which you can find here.

Works Cited: 

Nunweiler, Alexandria. "Writing Moves" 24 Sept. 2014. Web. 27 Sept. 2014. 

Singing Celara. "Singing Celara: An Assignment Blog" 24 Sept. 2014. Web. 27 Sept. 2014.