History of Political Remix? Theorising political remix? Criticising political remix? Historicising this emergin practice if it may be referred to as such. Is political remix a distinct object of study, different from any other? Is there much going on in the run up to the general elections? Is it quite juvenile in that it tends to make fun of politicians, a form of parody or satire? Should I focus on video work? If not would I need to include audio and text-based mash-ups? Or perhaps posters, a la Adbusters, which tend to critique the advertising world / consumerism and the political world and social issues – so PRV is an evolution of Adbusters ‘Culture Jamming’ un-posters. Many made by amateurs but decent ones made by professionals in their spare time. I have to keep coming back to this from an art point of view. Need a new entry point such as contemporary found footage filmmaking. PRV is like propaganda, advertising, movie trailers – the form and style of the work is a template taken directly from the styles of the commercial mainstream culture industries. A critique of the culture industries as well as the specific subject matter of each remix. But couldn’t you produce a completely new work using similar templates and original raw material, i.e. not found footage? But actually appropriating and repurposing content from other sources withough permission / authorization instills the work with a certain power / raw energy, controversiality, potential illegality, real revellion, standing up to and sticking it to the status quo, a charge, an explosive element. Historically, the form could be legitimately traced back to Dada, collage, surrealism, Russian and American found footage film-making, avante-garde film-making, appropriation art, Adbusters, tactical media, and amateur YouTube video remixes to contemporary experimental found footage art. Why am I obsessed with this? I believe it is a powerful art form that can change things. I could map the current online practice of political remix video. There have not been that many notable examples all around the world in the last 5 years. I can document each one and each artist. Is there a claim that remixes are ineffectual? I dispute this. The Situationists have a major part to play as well. What can the past tell us about the present and the future of this art form?
CriticalRemix.com
Dr. Owen Gallagher, SFHEA
