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� 2004-02-15
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 Bootleg Objects7615 days ago
 " A phono-radio without the phono, a cassette receiver sans cassette, and a non-turning turntable are the first three pieces in a series called �Bootleg Objects�. Obviously, something has been stolen here from these three right honourable design classics. Or rather, was something added? The name gives a hint: Bootlegging, historically a pseudonym for illegal liquor-making, was later also used for unauthorized recordings of music. Today, �bootleg� is one name for the musical style of recombination, of mashing up pop music pieces (preferably done undercover) of the most disparate origins. Both diluting and revamping, carelessly sampling objects, like a self-service shopping spree in the design museum. Creation that�s happily or witlessly unconcerned by commercial or jurisdical regulations such as copyright or marketability. An expression of deference to the qualities of the original object. But also its iconoclastic deconstruction. The subject of this manner of designing no longer is � as traditionally � interrelating form to function, but rather a positioning into a target context by �meta-design-decisions� as, for example, choosing the right citation or the rearrangement of the found objects. The three objects presented follow three deliberate methods of appropriation of a form: In �ReBraun�, recombination is paramount � while most features remained present, they slide along the surface, into new meanings. At the ReBo, nothing has been moved. Instead, an alien object � the touch screen � has slyly integrated himself. Lastly, the record player object Re-SP has not changed at all (apart from three clownish minimanipulations). Rather, its whole usage context has been taken. All of its working functions are completely different than it might seem, and all of its previous controls are now dead. �Skinning� is the name for the process that makes computer software freely designable. With programs that are skinnable, look, layout and even logic are free to redefinition. The designers have here applied the same principle to the tangible object: A general-purpose personal computer � nothing else is hidden inside the �bootleg objects�- is optimised for a specialized task and gets a new, old, amiable disposition." A project by Max Wolf ( Meso) and Markus Bader. www.bootleg-objects.com
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