Distributed. David Blamey & Brad Haylock (Eds.). Open Editions.
Posted in Motto Berlin store, writing on April 25th, 2018Tags: Brad Haylock, David Blamey, Open Editions
For those who would seek to influence others, the dissemination of ideas is
paramount. Similarly, for those holding ambition to secrete knowledge for reasons of
authority, or to protect the fruits of intellectual labour for reasons of profit or ethical
concern, distribution is key. Certainly before, but more importantly since the
Gutenberg Bible, the predicament of the power of knowledge has lain not with its
generation but with the control of its dispersion.
This new volume in the critically acclaimed Occasional Table series of books
published by Open Editions focuses attention on the act of distribution as a subject
for serious creative consideration and one of great social and economic importance.
Contributors from a variety of backgrounds paint a big picture that embraces the
actions of the individual alongside the workings of global markets. From the
attention-seeking impulse of the poseur, to the democratisation of art and knowledge
in the form of books, pop music, digital networks, self-organised libraries, and the
question of what can be known, and by whom, the urge to disseminate is explored
here as an elemental phenomenon of our time.
