Critical nerd theorist, Paul Miller (aka DJ Spooky) is getting his remix on at the Tribeca Film Festival (which starts today) however, it’s more than the average retooling of a song. This time, the essayist/heavy thinker knobtwiddler is upping the geek quota by taking the remix to another level, yo (REMIX!). Now he’s tweaking and deconstructing D.W. Griffith’s seminal “Birth of A Nation” (part of our Tribeca highlights list). We like to make fun, but he talked to Time Out New York and had some interesting thoughts and analogies.
“I liked the fact that Griffith was crosscutting and playing with image fragments,” Miller says. “That’s what DJ culture does with sampling; it’s all about juxtaposition.”
Right-o.The pioneering “Nation” is full of technical innovations that elevated the language of film, but at the same time it’s as racist as “What Up, Mammy?” Al Jolson; a bit of a moral conundrum when being analyzed. But never one to shy away from subversive, question-raising topics, Spooky decided to make “Rebirth of a Nation” — a recontextualized multi-media art project, cum quasi-homage. Mutating the original intent, Miller flips the script by rewriting the film with tweaked sounds, imagery and performing the whole thing live during the festival with a score he wrote with the equally geeky chin-stroking players in the Kronos Quartet.
While he hasn’t faced any legal problems yet, his point is the cinematic mash-up could be right around the corner. “Intellectual property is the new surveillance culture. There’s an entire generation growing up with a hack mentality, where kids bend technology to fit their creative urges.”
Uh yeah, it’s called You-Tube. The “fan of open-source cinema” really might be on to something. This is something to look out for. An extremely interesting, possibly groundbreaking piece of work (at least on a semi-mainstream sort of level). I’m sure the Illegal Art folks will be all over this.
Download: DJ Spooky Vs. The Freight Elevator Quartet – “File Under Futurism” (mp3)
Download: Kronos Quartet – “Digital (Elliott Sharp cover)” (mp3)