The best part of the China China China! exhibit at Florence’s Strozzina is the reading room: unlike all the boring, walk-by-and-out-the-door reading rooms you see at every art exhibit in the world, this particular room captivated us. Why? Because there was a photocopier in the room - a wonderful breach of copyright law, an encouragement to copy and steal and - most importantly - to sit and read the books. Which is exactly what I did, even though I would never do it without the photocopier. And it’s not because we made lots of illegal copies: in fact, we flipped through nearly a dozen books on Chinese art and only made one copy. This was just another example of how making information free and open encourages consumption, expands markets, and ultimately fosters consumers who are better informed, more curious and much, much more likely to support the arts.
. Leo is a artist, inventor and all around practical person in the Tangible Media Group at the Media Lab. He has a background in sculpture, architecture and industrial design as well as an MS from the Media Lab spent working on the kitchen of the future. He is on a search for truth.
