http://www.politicalremixvideo.com/
This website showcases and promotes some of the best, most innovative and inspiring examples of Political Remix Video. These remixes use and transform appropriated footage (and audio) from popular culture to create new fair-use video works. For us the word “political” refers to works that are critical of not only of political institutions and government policy, but also social and cultural issues like gender, race, sexuality and environment. This blog is managed and edited by two remix artists and media activists.
About Political Remix Video
Political Remix Video (PRV) is a genre of transformative guerilla media production whereby creators critique power structures, deconstruct social myths and challenge dominate media messages through re-cutting and re-framing fragments of mainstream media and the popular culture.
These remix works have their roots in the tradition détournement where artists twist and subvert mass media, re-purposing it to present alternative messages and narratives. Although PRVs vary widely in form, topic and message, they share are a few common aspects.
First, PRVs present political messages. The word “political” in this context refers to works that are critical of not only of political institutions and government policy, but also social and cultural issues like gender, race, sexuality and environment.
Second, PRVs are guerrilla works as they use the appropriation of corporate intellectual property without the permission of the copyright holder. In addition, these remixes are often highly critical of the source media, making the work particularly vulnerable to DMCA takedown notices.
Third, PRV works utilize and embrace dominant media forms as the structure of their alternative messages. These include short news segments, TV ads, speech excerpts, movie trailers and music videos. Unlike most contemporary “video art”, remixers are not critiquing sound bite-driven forms of mainstream media through the construction of a non-narrative. Instead, PRVs attempt to form an argument and convey a message in a familiar structure, using the framework as a vehicle to deliver subversive political messages. This makes PRVs accessible to the general public, not just the art world or academics. This accessibility of both form and message is one of the core aspects to the works in this remix genre.
PRVs are an increasingly popular and relevant form of remix that can, at best, challenge dominant power systems and institutions while questioning media driven myths in our society, our culture and ourselves. These works “should” be classified as a fair use of the original work in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107.
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In détournement, an artist reuses elements of well-known media to create a new work with a different message, often one opposed to the original. The term "détournement", borrowed from the French, originated with the Situationist International; a similar term more familiar to English speakers would be "turnabout" or "derailment". Détournement is similar to satirical parody, but employs more direct reuse or faithful mimicry of the original works rather than constructing a new work which merely alludes strongly to the original. It may be contrasted with recuperation, in which originally subversive works and ideas are themselves appropriated by mainstream media.
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