The Matrix is a remix

There’s probably no other field that uses as much material from existing works than music. Think sampling, cover songs, remixes, edits, bootlegs. Copying other artists work is an essential part of music production today – but copying is to be found in much more fields of everyday life than only in music.

NYC-based filmmaker Kirby Ferguson has been working on this topic for a while now with his website and video series ‘Everything is a Remix‘, in which he explains the relationship between industrial and cultural innovations and the sampling of knowledge and ideas.

Together with editor Robert Grigsby Wilson, ‘Everything is a Remix’ also focusses on movies. After the hugely successful examination of Quentin Tarantino’s ‘Kill Bill‘ movies and their samples, Wilson and Ferguson now take on Larry and Andy Wachowski’s ‘The Matrix‘ to show which movies and books were the source code for the science fiction movie from 1999.

And speaking of ‘Everything is a Remix’: Steve Jobs passed away last night, and the following video is how we’ll remember his works – copy/paste as a way of commercial and creative success, from Xerox to OSX.

Published October 06, 2011.