The Logic of the Copy, from Appropriation to Choreography

In film, video, and fine art practices the appropriation of an existing public repertoire of images, broadcast media and archives of all kinds is a well-established strategy for a critical engagement with the everyday. By comparison, work that is made under the umbrella of screendance tends to be composed with new movement material. Both Appropriation Art and Screendance are rooted in the technologies of reproduction and are part of the same history but they are pulling in different directions. In the context of a first issue of The International Journal of Screendance, and hoping to encourage dialogues between screendance and other art practices, this essay revisits the discussion on originality versus appropriation, which has underpinned practices in various areas of contemporary fine art. The essay investigates the logic of the copy inherent in these practices, and considers both the use of technologies of reproduction and the use of repetition within the work. In addition the essay looks at Appropriation Art through a choreographic lens to explore what screendance practices may be able to contribute to debates on authorship.