I Copy Therefore I Am

60x60 cm

Created, appropriated and redistributed by different hands and minds, objects and ideas are always in the process of becoming new originals. I Copy Therefore I Am reproduces and alters Barbara Kruger’s 1987 iconic print work Untitled (I shop therefore I am) to read "I copy therefore I am,” transforming an anti-consumerist message into a declaration against copyright. 

I Copy Therefore I Am is a print series that was produced following the establishment of Copyshop – a shop and information forum challenging the regime of copyright and the idea of intellectual property. Where Kruger’s print converted Descartes’ famous philosophical quote into a critique of consumerism, SUPERFLEX’s version yet again turns it back into an existential statement: we are what we copy. 

The new original was reproduced as a full-scale vinyl print for Art Basel in 2011. I Copy Therefore I Am illustrates SUPERFLEX’s interest in the political and philosophical implications of copyright law within the context of the contemporary art world.  

 I Copy Therefore I Am was developed within the context of Copyshop, 2005, a collaboration between Copenhagen Brains and SUPERFLEX