In 1996, during the relatively early days of the web, Kenneth Goldsmith created UbuWeb to post hard-to-find works of concrete poetry. What started out as a site to share works from a relatively obscure literary movement grew into an essential archive of twentieth- and twenty-first-century avant-garde and experimental literature, film, and music. Visitors around the world now have access to both obscure and canonical works, from artists such as Kara Walker, Yoko Ono, Pauline Oliveros, Samuel Beckett, Marcel Duchamp, Cecil Taylor, Glenn Ligon, William Burroughs, and Jean-Luc Godard.

In Duchamp Is My Lawyer, Goldsmith tells the history of UbuWeb, explaining the motivations behind its creation and how artistic works are archived, consumed, and distributed online. Based on his own experiences and interviews with a variety of experts, Goldsmith describes how the site navigates issues of copyright and the ways that UbuWeb challenges familiar configurations and histories of the avant-garde. The book also portrays the growth of other “shadow libraries” and includes a section on the artists whose works reflect the aims, aesthetics, and ethos of UbuWeb. Goldsmith concludes by contrasting UbuWeb’s commitment to the free-culture movement and giving access to a wide range of artistic works with today’s gatekeepers of algorithmic culture, such as Netflix, Amazon, and Spotify.

"Named a Best Non-Fiction Book of 2020" - PopMatters

"One of the smartest manifestos on art and internet politics that I've seen." - The Wire

"This book, although written in the first person singular, is an example of collective enunciation, the 'I' of Kenneth Goldsmith being a cooperative person representing all those eager to rely on the creative and communicative possibilities of the net to build a collaborative framework that does not dissolve but offers new promises to all individuals as well. In that sense, Duchamp Is My Lawyer perfectly qualifies as what Deleuze and Guattari call 'minor literature,' . . .the noncanonical use of a 'major' system to serve the needs and expectations of those at the margins." - Leonardo Reviews

"A remarkably fluid and engaging read. . . When I finished Duchamp Is My Lawyer, I had the pleasure of sitting in natural silence for a brief while, pondering how much I had learnt, how entertainingly the book had conveyed its message of openness, what a gift it is to have such a light touch." - PopMatters

"Duchamp is My Lawyer is an approachable and even-handed discussion of UbuWeb and issues regarding copyright in the digital age. It also provides an insight into the evolution of the counter culture in the internet age and the practical, legal and financial issues of producing and consuming art today. Well worth seeking out." - Alexander Adams Art

"This is a book for lovers of art’s revolutionary import and those interested in the interface between art and the law. Recommended." - Choice

"UbuWeb is portrayed as a small utopia in the middle of the commercial Internet, built on the principles of freedom, equality and cultural progress, but also subversiveness . . . between the lines, [Goldsmith] persuades us to create other such utopian places online, to try to transform the Internet and reclaim its vision of the future." - 3/4 Magazine

"Duchamp Is My Lawyer displays Goldsmith fulfilling an ethics of caring about others who care about conserving odd things. Caring is at the heart of this tender homage to eccentric collectors who have put themselves at legal risk to share their obsessions." - William Carlos Williams Review