Screening

About Rebirth of a Nation

Year Released:

1915/2004

Genres:

Documentary

Metadata:

Directed by D.W. Griffith, DJ Spooky That Subliminal Kid

Presented by Wounded Galaxies and IU Cinema DJ Spooky’s Rebirth of a Nation ‘de-turns’ D.W. Griffiths’ racist epic The Birth of a Nation (1915), using radical aesthetics to make its own pointed and profound commentary on race-hatred in the United States. The film is recut and re-edited so that our attention is drawn to raced elements in the frame. And DJ Spooky has drawn on the film and used graphics not so much to de-face as to alterface a text. It is a contemporary example of the Situationist tactic of detournement, as well as a powerful intervention in a raced, racist, and racially biased film history. The film is presented with a recorded score by DJ Spooky and the Kronos Quartet. Paul D. Miller is scheduled to be present. (2K DCP Presentation)

The event is sponsored by Wounded Galaxies, The Media School, Cultural Studies Program, the Black Film Center/Archive, University Graduate School, WFHB and Interchange, WFIU, The Burroughs Century, and IU Cinema.

DJ Spooky aka Paul D. Miller
DJ Spooky is a composer, multimedia artist, and writer whose work immerses audiences in a blend of genres, global culture, and environmental and social issues. In 2012, he was the first artist-in-residence at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC and his work as a media artist has appeared in the Whitney Biennial, the Venice Biennial for Architecture, the Andy Warhol Museum, and many other museums and galleries around the world. As a writer, Miller’s award-winning book Rhythm Science was published by MIT Press 2004 and was followed in 2008 by Sound Unbound, an anthology about electronic music and digital media. The Book of Ice, an experiential visual and acoustic portrait of the Antarctic, was published in 2011 by Random House. He has also produced and composed work for Yoko Ono, Thurston Moore, and scores of artists and award-winning films.