Over time, the term “bootlegging” has evolved beyond illegal copyright infringement and moonshine to describe, in essence, a creative act. In this ongoing series, we turn to designers and artists who exploit this phenomenon to provide some insight into contemporary culture’s obsession with bootlegging. Read more.
Each year the Werkplaats Typografie curates a space at the New York and Los Angeles Art Book Fair that experiments with and expands upon the notion of exhibiting publications. In 2017, students Malin Gewinner, Luca Napoli, and Line-Gry Horup built their event around the idea of bootlegging—or, as the event was called, Fruits of Fraud. The weekend-long underground market felt unique and exciting in the context of the fair: shrouded in mystery, with hidden clues, a secret room, and only glimpses released online. I recently spoke with Gewinner about the event as well as her own explorations into copyright (to both good and bad ends) and co-opting the establishment for the sake of a self-portrait.
Ben Schwartz (BS)
How do you understand bootlegging today—on a broad level as well as how it’s related to your practice?
MaLIN GEWINNER (MG)
I just Googled and found that the etymology of the word “bootleg” originates from the smugglers’ practice of hiding bottles in boots, which originates from a time when alcohol was prohibited in the United States. I also make an association with fashion, the “bootleg” is describing a detail of footwear—the leg of the boot. Finally, I associate the word “bootleg” with a creative trivial offense.
Recently my studio mate Marion Kliesch and I visited the Posin Brothers’s atelier in Berlin in preparation for a course we taught at HFK Bremen on the topic of bootlegging. The Posin Brothers are professional art fakers, copying masterpieces from Monet, Matisse, and Van Gogh. What I found particularly interesting is that they are copying from old art catalogues and thus the color spectrum in their version of a painting must be based on photographs rather than the original. Either way, at the time the forged artworks gained a great deal of notoriety despite the fact that there is nothing illegal about the work itself. It’s a similar concept to bootlegging today—the term’s linguistic heritage is related to an illegal act, but in the present context, I wouldn’t relate it to anything unlawful. Look, for example, at recent campaigns in the fashion world, where labels like Gucci (or should I say Guccy) and Balenciaga are quoting the look of bootlegs. In other words, the bootleg becomes a bootleg of itself.
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Photographs taken with Gewinner’s phone by Michael Posin
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“Take 2…”
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“Take 3…”
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“He obviously wasn’t satisfied with his work and gave up after this one.”
In my own work, I think of bootlegging as a method of appropriating and an approach to quoting and ownership. I work a lot with found material in my practice, as I prefer to rearrange a visual world rather than create it from scratch. I like to analyze a situation, filter and connect it to something else, appropriate it, and make it my own. When I write, I entangle quotes and fragments of foreign texts into my writing. I figure that the more flagrant I am in pushing the limits of ownership the more exciting a project becomes. Of course, this is usually quite risky and generally involves designing with a certain sense of audacity. For example, I once wanted to bootleg the name of a big publishing house on a small self-published book for a photographer. She wasn’t convinced, and the entire project fell through.
Unfortunately, this wasn’t my only experience with a failed project because of unauthorized content. Years ago, I designed a book version of the movie La Jetée with Sara Arzu. However, the project wasn’t released because the publisher couldn’t find the owner of the copyrights, and deemed it too risky.
When I wrote and designed the book Die Anthropomorpha–Tiere im Krieg (The Anthropomorha–Animals in War) I only collected images of animals serving in war that were free to use or relatively inexpensive to license. These restrictions can at times be very annoying but, fortunately, this time the book was published.
BS
Can you discuss a particular example of bootlegging in your practice? What did you bootleg? Why did you bootleg? What were the ideas behind the project? What was the process of putting it together? What were the implications? What did you hope to achieve?
MG
When I studied at Werkplaats Typografie in Arnhem, I used the high rate of “Werkplaats Typografie” search queries on Google Maps to take portraits of myself in public. Google Werkplaats Typografie for yourself on Google Maps and you will find me in 360°views around the building.
Every now and then I receive emails from Google telling me how popular my postings are. I’m always happy about these mails.
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Gewinner’s Google Maps self-portrait series
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Gewinner’s Google Maps self-portrait series
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Gewinner’s Google Maps self-portrait series
Another project I did, together with Luca Napoli and Line-Gry Horup, was called Fruits of Fraud and was presented at the New York Art Book Fair in 2017. The NYABF is a jungle of coveted books. Hunters, fanatics, and collectors from all over the world gather around in a rapid, exhausting exchange of printed matter. It’s quite a task to come up with a fresh and new concept, especially when generations of WT students present a project on a yearly basis. If we didn’t want to unconsciously copy an already existing project, we decided to consciously copy or turn the copy into a new project. Using this as a starting point we were led to discuss and elaborate on an even more difficult challenge: How can our offerings attract attention in a treasure chamber full of book-jewels? Our answer was to not focus on publications. Instead of books, we offered goods and turned the book booth into an illegal market. We decided to offer objects of desire, inspired by objects the 18 WT participants coveted. We arranged our editions of Sottsass lamps, Hermes playing cards, stress balls, and many other desirable objects on a piece of cloth—a so-called “swag” that is quickly disposed of in case of unwelcome authorities. The market was hidden behind a curtain in the boiler room of MoMA PS1, with exclusive entrance to people who knew about it. The biggest challenge of the project was to get the art fair crowd behind the curtain!
Because of the nefarious nature of the goods, we didn’t want to advertise in a traditional matter and opted instead for a more guerrilla style. Rather than create an identity that is recognizable through defined visual features (typeface, logo, color palette, etc), we decided to play with the idea of a code-word. We choose the word “Cherry” because of its idiomatic versatility and its positive and appealing association. We collected a variety of visualizations representing the cherry, like visual synonyms. We bootlegged a variety of existing logos, icons, drawings, photographs etc., and turned them into stickers spreading them throughout the fair like a rumor. We infiltrated other booths by pasting the stickers into other books. The text “boiler room” on the matte side of the sticker indicated the location of our secret market.
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Cherry curtain used to hide the room of bootlegged goods. Photo: Austin Redman
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Objects of desire laid out on a cloth for easy disposal. Photo: Werkplaats Typografie
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Cherry stickers used to covertly market the boiler room. Photo: Austin Redman
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The back side of the curtain used at the NYABF 2017
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A found paper bag containing an “object of desire”. Photo: Melanin Winger
And last but not least, Marion and I are currently working on the website for AddLabel, a Hamburg-based label founded in 2016 by Taalke Schöningh and Sabrina Seifried. Among collaborations with visual artists, they recently created an edition of shirts with signatures of renown artists embroidered on to them. Get in contact with them on Instagram (@add_label) to purchase one of these great shirts; website will be released soon!
BS
What is the difference between bootlegging and appropriation? Bootlegging and copying?
MG
Marion Kliesch and I recently taught a freshman design course at the University of Arts Bremen called Guccy Gang, Gücci Gang, Gucki Gang. Together with the students we defined the term “bootleg” and tried to differentiate it from the terms “appropriation” and “copy.” Our conclusion was that appropriation is the reflection of a work of art, put into a new context, creating room for new interpretation. A copy is a 1:1 reproduction of something that is not necessarily illegal. The bootleg in its traditional sense describes the illegal copy of something, but has recently shifted into the creative realm.
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Selection of students work, based on the realm of the airport, resulting from the class Guccy Gang, Gücci Gang, Gucki Gang
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Kappa socks by Christine Claussen feature an illustration bootlegged from an airplane security card. “The woman is literally jumping out of the airplane.”
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By Raphael Brückner, a shirt with an inaccurately hand-drawn Swiss logo, reproduced in an edition of 10
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A bootleg Louis Vuitton flight attendant scarf by Jo Harry Genßler
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The strap for a KML ID card, by Julia Höft, which enables the carrier to escape airport security
BS
Can you talk about the relationship between bootlegging and politics? Bootlegging and irony? Bootlegging and fandom? Bootlegging and capitalism?
MG
As a child of the ’90s, I experienced the bootleg in a world of loud and shouty branding characterized by a wealth of counterfeit goods. It was a world of funny, yet poetic, knock-offs that people would immediately publish on Instagram if they would stumble across them today. I used to have an “Easy Pack” backpack that I bought in the Czech Republic. You have to savor this one: Easy Pack… Back then, lots of counterfeit goods were produced in socialistic-backed states. Was that a consciously rebellious, yet hopeless, act? Was it a scratch on an unbreakable surface of an increasingly capitalist world?
Bootlegging was adorable because it was a smart crime that didn’t really hurt the big players. I guess it became fashionable recently for that reason. With nostalgic sentiment, people are reminded of this smartly charming poke against capitalism. Gucci devotees who buy Guccy stuff from Gucci might be reminded of their youth, a time when they couldn’t afford the luxury brand.
BS
You mention brands like Gucci and Balenciaga. I’m curious about how you feel about these sanctioned bootlegs. Have they lost potency since entering into the realm of legitimacy?
MG
The term remains the same, but it becomes something else as it shifts into the cultural realm. The bootleg now has become a bootleg of itself. Sanctioned bootlegs are the demonstration of total capitalist power. The declaration of universal victory.
BS
How does bootlegging relate to the ideas of ownership? I’m thinking about this particularly in the age of the internet, where it seems that no one person truly owns an idea.
MG
I think the bootleg had its peak in the ’70s, the time of the counterculture movement, do-it-yourself-culture, personal computing, and the access to tools. Suddenly, it was possible to create what you couldn’t afford before.
The internet furthermore is coining the open-source idea and bringing it back to the material world. It liberates the idea of ownership. With this liberation, the bootleg loses its criminal aura and is associated more closely with ideas of hacking. When we are speaking of the bootleg today, we are talking about something that happened in the past. In culture, it is accompanied by a nostalgic sentiment.
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