Nearly three years ago Eduardo Navas and Owen Gallagher reached out to me to collaborate on a book project they had been developing on remix studies. Just weeks ago, our years of working together arrived on my doorstep in hard-cover form: The Routledge Companion to Remix Studies.
The Routledge Companion to Remix Studies comprises contemporary texts by key authors and artists who are active in the emerging field of remix studies. As an organic international movement, remix culture originated in the popular music culture of the 1970s, and has since grown into a rich cultural activity encompassing numerous forms of media.
The act of recombining pre-existing material brings up pressing questions of authenticity, reception, authorship, copyright, and the techno-politics of media activism. This book approaches remix studies from various angles, including sections on history, aesthetics, ethics, politics, and practice, and presents theoretical chapters alongside case studies of remix projects. The companion website is a valuable resource for readers, educators, and students.
This project was truly fun to work on and I’m honored to have collaborated with so many creative and thoughtful artists and scholars.