Excerpted from:
Ota Kêiti, The Big Cemetary of Lovers

NOAHIRO UKAWA: Anyone who was around in Japan in the 1980s would recognize the form and the character of your work, but I'm guessing that in the United States, you're probably known mainly for the cover of Mondo 2000 you did.

OTA KEITI: I got lumped in with the Boredoms, even though we have virtually no point of contact. But just because we're appearing in the same issue of a magazine, it's implied that "Oddball Japan" is a unified family.

We're in an age in which it is extremely difficult to be original. With so many people using the same computer software, there's an inherent uniformity of expression to be expected. Their creativity depends on the power of their software and their hard-drive.

But the same is true if you're not using computers. There's no chance for originality without remaining true to one's instincts. Artwork won't be similar to anyone else's if the artist pours the maximum amount of soul into it.

How does that apply to the versions and remixes of sampling culture and dance music?

Sampling and collage are not the core of the culture. They may be new and exciting today, but they're insignificant in the big scheme of things. We'll look back at what's happening today and we're not going to be impressed. People are slaves to popularity. If you take the long view of any art movement, it looks like a bunch of worms wriggling in one place. No one's trying to break through; no one's aware of other places, of other planes of existence. And it all follows a circular path. Whatever's au courant, you should explore the 180-degree opposite, because that's going to be the next trend. The people who profit the most from phenomena are the ones who don't participate in either extreme, but follow whichever one happens to earn them the most cash. Take rock'n'roll and rockabilly for example. If you don't listen to it carefully, it all probably seems like more or less the same thing. But look at all the different permutations of rock music that have followed in its wake - all the completely different kinds of music it has spawned. Once you get into it and understand it fully, you'll see a million different points of view. You can't just stay there because it's acceptable and comfortable; there's always something yet to be done, a perspective yet to be explored.

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