“Cinema for the gene-slice generation where sign and symbol, word and meaning all drift into sonic malestrom.” The Guardian (UK)

A Performance Work by Paul D Miller aka DJ Spooky That Subliminal Kid.

 An infamous 1915 film gets a 21st century makeover in the latest project from NY-based ‘turntablist intellectual’ Paul D Miller, aka DJ Spooky That Subliminal Kid. Using the same techniques he applies to audio, DJ Spooky ‘remixes’ DW Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation on three giant screens, adding new and borrowed imagery along with a live audio mix of strings, hip-hop and the blues of Robert Johnson.

While Griffith’s film is rightly hailed as visionary in its ‘cut-up’ techniques, The Birth of a Nation is also a blatant piece of racist propaganda – glorifying the Ku Klux Klan and using white actors in blackface to depict blacks as lazy, weak and violent. Rebirth of a Nation uses the film as a springboard to create new social commentary, revealing how the original film’s symbols and myths endure today.

Philosopher and world-renowned disc-man DJ Spooky has collaborated with a wide range of musicians and composers, and has courted both controversy and acclaim as a multimedia/performance artist and writer.

Built from “a historical evil that stinks of the future” (Sydney Morning Herald), Rebirth of a Nation is beautiful yet disturbing, uncompromising but hopeful.

 

 

If this event interests you, our Artistic Director also recommends Instructions for Modern Living, Joe Sacco, and DJ Spooky Party.

  

Photo credit: © Tobin Poppenberg

17 Mar, 8:30pm
18 Mar, 8:30pm