OPUS - RAQs Media Collective

RAQs Media Collective is not the work of one or even a group of artists, but rather it is a community of artists and critics, all participating in a communal growth project.  As described in the New Media Art Wiki, it is sort of a Utopian experience.  Artists submit their work, and other artists are free to view, critique, and adjust, or appropriate these works in order to further their own works.  The hindrances of licensing and such have been done away with, and everyone is free to everything submitted.  The creators of OPUS describe it in a genetic metaphor, where the original artwork is the parent, and when the original has been adjusted to produce a child, it not a defacement or anything negative, but a new manifestation, its own work, that indeed drew some of its material from the parent.  In truth, I think this pretty much what has been happening in art since the beginning of time, since the beginning of artistic expression in humanity.  But I think this site has great potential, because it provides an outlet for often amateur and less connected artists, and an extremely direct way to be exposed to the work of peers, of fellow artists, creating a community where everyone can benefit from the communal interaction.  If Art is about sharing ones personal vision with the world, then there should be no selfishness inherent in that, for the creation of Art is the ultimate act of sharing oneself with the world.  This is a brilliant example of this principle, and I hope it inspires more forums that perform similar functions. link to the site