Plagiarismo

Richard DeDomenici is a performance artist whose artwork is cerebral, accessible and subversive; traits conspicuously absent in this one-man lecture.

Addressing the issue of intellectual property rights, Plagiarismo! provides plenty of bite-size trivia about musical bootlegging and ripping off others' jokes :  all pub friendly banter that doubtless come in handy. His topic is unarguably interesting and pertinent to contemporary society where the public post their every creative whim on the Internet, then cry foul of being ripped-off when it turns up elsewhere. Moreover, it is heavily influenced by DeDominici's own experience of plagiarism and the misery it causes, throwing light on the dichotomy between our post-romantic notion of creative genius, and a post modern society which ensures that recognition goes to whoever’s packaging is prettiest.

Plagiarismo! exposes many interesting arguments but offers them up with little panache. Each, often grainy, video clip is accompanied with DeDomenici’s oratory, too often read from the notes on his laptop. He is disconcertingly unimpassioned about his topic- even when discussing Rupert Murdoch’s tactless usurpation of his work- and this apparent antipathy gives him the air of a once rebellious cultural commentator who finds himself doing the links on a ‘quirky’ television clips show. DeDomenici is clearly smart enough to make a good job of exposing the flaws in cultural orthodoxy, but his choice of format stifles his natural propensity for creation.