Kevin Miller at Interview Magazine recently conducted an short interview with Marcopoulos, check it out below.
KEN MILLER: How do you edit a 1200-page book?
ARI MARCOPOULOS: You don't edit. We just took a stack [of photos] and then laid them on top of each other.
MILLER: Your early work was black and white, then you switched to color. Why switch back to black and white?
MARCOPOULOS: I didn't really switch back. I shoot both color and black and white still—predominantly color. The [images in the book] are all copies, so most of the originals are color photos.
MILLER: How did you arrive at the photocopied printing style you've been using for the last few years?
MARCOPOULOS: I have been making photocopies for years, first just as a tool to figure out book layouts, but always loving the look. Then it was a question of being tired of endless tinkering to get a "perfect" color print. With photocopies, it's all pretty straightforward.
MILLER: Why was it important to keep the date stamps in the digital photos—especially since they're not chronological or a daily diary?
MARCOPOULOS: Dates can be important. It's a nice way to remember when I took [the photo] without having to rack my brain or look in the archives. It also makes every photo important, because there is the date. I can take a picture of nothing, but at least we know when I took it.
MILLER: Has making videos affected how you take photos?
MARCOPOULOS: I have always made films simultaneously, so they go hand in hand. I think that my books are like films...
MILLER: What still keeps you excited about youth culture? What changes and what stays the same?
MARCOPOULOS: I am excited about more than just youth culture, and youth is also stretching a bit longer now. But I have to say resistance and disregard keeps me excited.
MILLER: What is something that you've learned from your kids?
MARCOPOULOS: To just chill the fuck out.
MILLER: You recently moved back to New York from Northern California. Do you have a favorite place to photograph?
MARCOPOULOS: The place where I am is always my favorite place.
MILLER: Do you think originally being from Holland has influenced how you see U.S. culture? Do you think you have an "outsider" point of view?"
MARCOPOULOS: It probably has, but I won't lay claim to the "outsider POV." That's an old school idea.
MILLER: What is your first memory of moving to NY in the '80s?
MARCOPOULOS: Getting beat up by the newspaper stand man for browsing magazines.
MILLER: Skating, snowboarding or surfing?
MARCOPOULOS: Sledding.
Ari Marcopoulos' Directory will be released by Rizzoli Publications on March 4th.
