Paul Miller, a.k.a. DJ Spooky, that Subliminal Kid, is one of the most prolific artists of the new millennium. This artist from Washington, D.C. is a formidable turntablist, producer, composer, author, multi-media DJ, and professor. Miller has penned one book, Rhythm Science, and edited another, Sound Unbound, both of which were published by MIT Press. Recently, Miller was in residence at Dartmouth College working on his piece, Terra Nova: Sinfonia Antarctica. TDI conducted this interview with Mr. Miller prior to his performance of Terra Nova at the Hopkins Center.

TDI: What inspires you?

PM: I'm inspired by the hidden complexity of everyday life. Things like the way the sky and wind are deeply “nonlinear” phenomena, or the way that we use the architecture of the human mind to try and “anthropomorphize” almost every aspect of nature. Human beings are some arrogant creatures, let me tell ya! Anyway, I'm inspired by things that don't fit into the norms of any system. That's just a simple way of saying I’m inspired by almost anything and everything.

TDI: What are your favorite works of art? What are your favorite films, albums, and books of the past few years?

PM: I love (and I do mean really love!) the first Matrix film. It's where you felt the 21^st  century as really just starting. A manifesto, a masterpiece! John Luther Adams is one of my favorite composers, and a quick listen to almost anything he's done about nature—installations, books, and, of course, compositions—points to a composer with a relentless drive to use music to look at the deeper structures what's going on these days. Jeff Chang'sCan't Stop, Won't Stop is a masterful history of hip hop from so many angles. An absolute must read for how we need to explore the most important music of our time. I'm really into the art of the Italian Futurists. People tend to overlook the lyrical beauty of the paintings of Luigi Russolo. He wrote the amazing book The Art of Noise in 1915. It's one of my favorite books of the 20th century. But his paintings are amazing too. Some of my other favorite artists, musicians, and writers are: Cornelius Cardew, Pierre Boulez, Ryuichi Sakamoto, DJ Krush, Rob Swift, The Doors, Hendrix, Charlie Parker, Stravinsky, Gertrude Stein, Billie Holiday, Alice Walker, Paul Robeson, Haruki Murakami, Brian Greene, Frank Gehry, Grand Master Flash, Danger Mouse, Bjork, Abdullah Ibrahim, Oum Kalsoum, Meredith Monk, Radiohead, Sonic Youth, Anti Pop Consortium, King Tubby, Jean Cocteau, Saul Williams, Charles Burnnett, Norbert Weiner, The Residents, Creative Commons, etc.

TDI: In your books, Rhythm Science and Sound Unbound, you discuss the use of samples to develop musical and visual motifs. I was struck by how similar your observations were to those of linguists analyzing the human language. How have linguistic theories influenced your work?

PM: Antarctica! It's a word with a lot of meanings, but if you take a look at the root of it, it basically says “the land opposite of the bear” in Greek. The Arctic was the Greek term for the north: the land of the bear. They never went to either place! Actually, a lot of my work is inspired by early linguistic theory—say, for example, Ferdinand de Saussure, who came up with a lot of what we like to think about as "semiotics," the use of words and symbols to create every aspect of meaning. Sussaure is pretty sharp, but he's old school compared to Mikhail Bakhtin's idea of “dialogue imagination.” Anyway, I kind of dig stuff like that, but not that many people know about it. Basically, using that kind of stuff as inspiration is like saying I'm inspired by cosmic rays and the dust between interstellar gas clouds. I'm just as inspired by "info theory" types like Norbert Weiner (who coined the term “cybernetics”) and Claude Shannon who helped codify a mathematical theory of information theory. But again, that stuff is kinda esoteric. Let's just say that I went to Bowdoin College, and received two degrees—one in French literature, and the other in philosophy. I had a lot more fun DJ'ing though! 

TDI: How do society and ideology influence you as an artist?

PM: My trip to Antarctica was an essay attempt. I wanted to bring a studio there, to be inspired as much by the landscape. I wanted to get away from my normal comfort zones of the major urban metropolis—places where I DJ, like Berlin, Mumbai, Singapore, Sao Paolo, London, Tokyo, New York, Chicago, L.A., etc. In black American culture, so many people are fascinated with “ice”; it's kind of like a blank surface for the culture to bounce off of. For example, with bling-bling, everyone calls diamonds “ice,” or there's the political manifesto of Eldridge Cleaver, “Soul on Ice,” or for that matter, there’s the original hip-hop poet, Iceberg Slim. From there we go to Ice T, then Ice Cube, and so on. We have to understand the "eros" of what it means to be a "cold" person or the “anti-eros” of the “frigid” person. Messages like that cut to the heart of modern civilization—Sigmund Freud on ice! Messages and ideologies are just reflections for what's going on with the culture at large, so I look at hip-hop and electronic music as mirrors we hold up to society. They can be powerful emotional tools or just basic party music. It's up to the audience to decide what merits attention. For me, music isn't music—it's information. 

TDI: Woody Allen has famously noted that many of his films are far different upon completion than what he imagined at inception. In what sense are your pieces the realization of an incipient concept and in what sense are they testaments to creative evolution? 

PM: All I can say is that I agree with Woody Allen! Completely! 

TDI: Throughout your career you have worked with numerous influential artists. What have you learned through collaboration?

PM: Every collaboration is a learning experience. I always say that there's a learning experience in every human being. You meet people, and you learn from them. I thank my mother every day for taking us traveling when I was a kid. We really got to check out cultures from a lot of different parts of the world when I was 11 or 13. We went to Greece, Egypt, Kenya, Senegal, the Ivory Coast, France, Jamaica, you name it. My mom didn't want me to think America was the only thing going. The problem with America is that not enough people check out other cultures. It's a drag. Anyway, collaboration is just an extension of the same thing for me: learning by going there and experiencing life. It's about being open to the information around you. 

TDI: You are an ardent supporter of free culture and a critic of the recording industry. How do you believe content distribution will evolve over the coming decades? Will the inevitable death of the recording industry as it currently exists adversely affect artists? If not, why? 

PM: Everything will be free: art, science, literature, music. If you want good quality stuff, you'll have to pay for it, or be very clever.

TDI: In Bob Marley’s “Jamming,” Mr. Marley notes that he would like to “jam it with you.” If you had the opportunity to jam with Bob Marley, what form would you like this collaboration to take?

PM: Dub! (Ed.—DJ Spooky has remixed a few of Bob Marley’s tracks. These can be found on his album Creation Rebel, which is available on iTunes.)

TDI: In the film Man on Wire, we saw Philippe Petit make the artistic accomplishment of a lifetime. When asked why he did it, he responded with the adage, “There is no why.” Do you feel a similar, seemingly inexplicable artistic spirit?

PM: Antarctica is one of the most remote places on Earth. It's kind of like going to the edge of the world and taking a look over to see what's going on. I liked the film about Philippe Petit because he is someone that exists just at the edge of the way we live. I want to see more people do stuff like that—use the city as a playpen! Why not? In regards to Antarctica, I am often asked, “What was there?” I can only say, “Nothing or everything.” They're both two sides of the same coin toss.

TDI: Kurt Vonnegut once observed that “the practice of art isn’t to make a living, it’s to make your soul grow.” What is the place of art in our society? 

PM: Art has a responsibility to show that another world is possible. I try to think about that in my work in a way that makes me want to get out of bed in the morning. Sometimes the world just seems so foreboding that you don't see any reason or rhyme to it all. Hendrix said it best: “Excuse me while I kiss the sky.” I wish we could all learn from such a simple poetic statement. Education that makes you want to live life and explore the myriad ways things are changing. That's what I want. 

Ed.— I had the distinct pleasure of seeing Mr. Miller perform Terra Nova at the Hopkins Center. Throughout the symphony, Miller created fascinating musical motifs that coalesced into one meditative piece. During the performance, I found my mind wandering, ideas churning in my head with the gentle cadence of ice flows. Art that has the capacity to provoke introspection and intelligent discussion is invaluable. Sinfonia Antarctica has the capacity for both.