We analyse one of the most important sources of inspiration for art: art itself. The examination and reinterpretation of historical subjects, ideas and images that have been used in previous works has become a subject, almost genre of contemporary artistic creation. The remake is more than an interpretation of a previous theme, it is not just a version and of course it is not a copy, but a rationale to reconsider the art work and the creative process in relation to the passing of time. Eternal themes from yesterday and today; irony, nostalgia, destruction and above all knowledge and recognition of art as a staple of the artist.

Estrella de Diego, writer and professor of history of art discusses The Scene of the Crime. Repetitions, Copies, Revisions, Quotes, Reconstructions which focusses on the wide theoretical and conceptual breadth of the subject.

EXIT #21 Remakes is divided into three separate parts: in each one the photographic remake is analysed and reconstructed based on cinema, photography and history of art, great works of art and big themes. In his text Comedy in Three Acts: Remake of Remakes of Remakes, Seve Penelas addresses the subject through dramatic writing, making a stage for artists such as Vik Muniz, whose work reinvents itself through the history of art by demonstrating differences within the same classic fine art subjects.

Thierry D'Avila provides an excellent analysis of cinema as a source of artistic influence in his article Endurance of Repetition, Upsurge of Invention: The Remake and Workshop of history. Artists such as Douglas Gordon, Pierre Huyghe and Johan Grimonprez graphically document their take on the subject.

But it is photography itself, its history and iconographic models that is one of the main sources of inspiration for photography. Pere Formiguera writes about those photographs that look like paintings in his text It’s such a Beautiful Photograph it Looks like a Photograph. Marcos Vilariño, Jemima Stehli, Chuck Samuels, Idris Khan and Marcos López are examples of artists following this creative line of work.

In addition to those already mentioned, this issue of EXIT presents a range of other artists, some famous and others newer or virtually unknown. The vision brought by these artists recognises how the history of art and ourselves as agents whose presence and perspective, continuously change what is observed: Joel-Peter Witkin, Pere Formiguera, Sam Taylor-Wood, Andy Warhol, Eve Sussman, Martín Sastre, Elena del Rivero, Charlie White, Marina Abramovic, Yasumasa Morimura, Man Ray, Miguel Angel Gaüeca, Balthasar Burkhard, Albano Afonso, amongst others. A great team who confirm that the remake is more than an ironic take on current affairs but now a subgenre of artistic creation.