vimeo:

BREAKDOWN the video **2010 VIMEO AWARDS REMIX WINNER** by kasumi

Vimean of the Week!
Kasumi, a John Simon Guggenheim fellow and Vimeo-award-winning media artist using an arsenal of powerful digital technologies to blend film and live-performance into compelling compositions.

First thing’s first, introduce yourself!
I’m Kasumi, an experimental filmmaker, sound artist and videoartist specializing in remix. And a hard-core Vimean.

Can you recall the first time you felt that you wanted to be involvedwith video?
I was turned on to Vimeo by friend, Ian Zeigler, a fabulous 3D artist. To say that this introduction to Vimeo opened up a new world for me is an understatement.

What do you find most satisfying about the act of remixing videos to create a new piece?
The art of the remix has allowed me to create not just a style, but also a new artistic amalgamated language that, for me, best represents the workings and conflicts, realities and unrealities of our conscious and subconscious minds. Remixing is the way to create a hyper reality that mirrors – in a weird, labyrinthine way - the collision of the present and past, fracturing and re-structuring the timelines of our perception, breaking of reality and postulating another.

In my opinion, the remix is the closest we get to mimicking human perception.

Any advice you would give to folks interested in this medium? Something to keep in mind when first starting out?
Go for the strongest metaphorical or symbolic imagery you can find – samples that connect to all people immediately without having to rely on interpretation or language. (…and the greatest source of all is the Prelinger Archive on archive.org).

Can you tell us a bit about the ethos behind this weekend’s RE/MIXED Media Festival?
In the words of the festival organizers, “The RE/Mixed Media Festival is a 2-day celebration of collaborative art-making and creative appropriation. It’s the artists’ contribution to the ongoing conversation about remixing, mashups, copyright law, fair use, and the freedom of artists to access their culture in order to add to and build upon it.” (For more information, head to the RE/MIXED Media Festival website.)

Who is one Vimean that inspires you?
Too difficult to choose! I’m incredibly inspired by both individual Vimeans, the amazing Vimeo staff, and Vimeo community as a whole. What really sets Vimeo apart is the quality of the work, and sincerity and open-mindedness of the community…and the comments are invaluable in helping raise the level of everyone’s work.  I’ve developed true friendships in the Vimeo community.