POV: How valuable is the obscure creative reference?

The constructive relationship between consumer and culture goes in both directions. When we find something meaningful enough to save, to collect it, the action both etches it a little deeper into our hearts and it also creates a context around the artifact itself, whether song, image, or video — and context not just for ourselves but for other peop... See more

For starters, the value of creative work will shift from outcomes to process and ingenuity. The original idea, the judgment, the innovations in process, and the story become more important than ever. As any art collector knows, in a fine art gallery, a piece is valued based on its lineage, its originality, and the trials and tribulations of the ar

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to save, to add to our collection, the action both etches it a little deeper into our hearts and creates a context around the artifact itself, whether text, song, image, or video. The context is not just for ourselves but for other people, the knit-together, shared context of culture at large. That’s what Benjamin described when he wrote, “The phen

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We tend to worship inventors and originators, designers who were trailblazing and innovative. And we copy them.

This oxymoron of a craft can drive a person crazy. There’s lots of space between originality and industry, authorship and acknowledgement, riffing and ripping. I wrote this very short book to explore that space.

Some people have been frus... See more