When contemplating remix, I think it is necessary to first look at culture. Culture is the set of shared attitudes, values, goals and practices that characterizes an institution, organization or group. Within this definition lies the keyword shared. Since the beginning of time people have been sharing ideas, building off of each other to synthesize old ideas into new. This is called the changing same - not only is it necessary, but it is inevitable.
Wether intentional or not, people are constantly remixing. Take a recipe for instance...there may be parts to a recipe that certain people don’t like, and end up subtracting ingredients from the dish. Other times, someone might think that with the addition of three other ingredients the dish could be perfect...the changing same. Everyone has creativity, and through remixing people have the ability to use their imagination and let their creativity shine. I believe there is a large problem in the transition between childhood to adulthood: the loss of creativity. It is an amazing fete to make it to adulthood and still be in tact with your creative side. As we grow up, we shy away from using our imagination and begin to lose our youthful inspiration. We give this up in exchange for wanting to be the best. At first in school we are taught to be imaginative and innovative. Slowly however, we are taught there is one correct way of getting things done, being the best student you can be, and rising to the top. Life becomes a competition and there is only one way to get the gold: do things exactly how you’re told. Quickly enough people begin to see this leads to a boring world. No one can deny this fact because eventually everyone feels it. Without the use of creativity and imagination, people begin to feel empty - and they begin (if they allow themselves) to seek out what inspires them...this is where remixing takes over.
Whether what inspires you is music, literature, cooking, fashion, or anything else, people will eventually come back their object of inspiration in order to feel excited again. They will use their basic interests and turn them into something new and exciting...they will remix. You just have to find, as Paul Miller puts it, who or what “speaks through you.” You must be attached to something powerfully enough that you feel drawn to play with it.
Once defining what speaks through you (the apparatus), it is time to remix. For thousands upon thousands of years, people have been taking what they know, and changing it. Whether this is done to make the subject matter better, newer, or just different, people can’t help but bring new life to old things; memory demands newness.
Not only is remixing done for the things understood, but it is also done to the things that are misunderstood, or even impossible to understand. This is remixing done to decipher the apparatus. Sometimes people want a better understanding or grasp on things so they make a point to re-interpret them. The apparatus, without understanding, leaves you on the outside looking in; there is no way of interpreting what’s going on unless the viewer makes their own metaphor and interpretation.
No matter what way you look at it, remixing is an inevitable metaphor. People yearn for understanding, for expression of experience and emotion. It is extremely hard, perhaps even impossible to come up with a completely new idea...everything is a derivative of something else; there is no shame in remixing. Moreover, in attempts not to become jaded with the bore of the same old shit, it is imperative to challenge ourselves through the act of remixing. REMIX WHAT YOU LOVE. REMIX WHAT YOU HATE. REMIX CULTURE. You already have.
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