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The New School's vera list center for art and politics presents birth and rebirth of a nation
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NEW YORK, September 2, 2009—The New School’s Vera List Center for Art and Politics presents Birth and Rebirth of a Nation, a public forum on issues of race and representation in the media and beyond, taking place Saturday, September 26, at The New School's Tishman Auditorium. The daylong event will include a screening of D. W. Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation (1915) with live musical accompaniment; a panel discussion with leading thinkers on the topic, including David Blight and David Blackmon, followed by a moderated discussion introduced by Bill Gaskins, who first proposed this colloquium, and led by Margo Jefferson; and a screening of Birth and Rebirth of a Nation (2008), by multimedia artist Paul D. Miller (a.k.a. DJ Spooky) who is expected to attend and discuss his DJ techniques, which helped him to deconstruct and reconfigure Griffith’s historic film.
Birth and Rebirth of a Nation kicks off a yearlong series of programs developed around the theme "Speculating on Change." "Each year, the center identifies a topic of particular urgency and broad resonance, and convenes artists and scholars for a variety of public programs," said Carin Kuoni, the director of the Vera List Center for Art and Politics. “This year's theme is a direct response to President Obama's call for ‘change we can believe in.’ In this daylong event, we will examine how the social, political, and cultural context that created D.W. Griffith's notorious white supremacist manifesto has transformed over time. By discussing the film in the context of contemporary developments, we will attempt to reconcile the racial imagination of the average American of today with that of less than a century ago when the film became the first 'blockbuster' in America. The goal is to spur further discussion and progress on this very timely topic." Kuoni emphasized that this daylong event is intended to be a platform for a shared experience for considering the repercussions of the film.
Birth and Rebirth of a Nation is presented free to the public, but reservations are recommended. For reservations and additional information, the public can contact The Vera List Center at [email protected] or (212) 229-2436. “Birth and Rebirth of a Nation” is presented with support from The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music and the Andy Warhol Foundation for Visual Arts.
Schedule of Events
10:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m.
Screening: D.W. Griffith, The Birth of a Nation, 1915
Live musical accompaniment by Michael Stein (graduate, The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music).Set during and after the American Civil War, the film was based on Thomas Dixon's The Clansman, a novel and play. The Birth of a Nation is noted for its innovative camera techniques and narrative achievements, and its status as the first Hollywood "blockbuster." It has provoked great controversy for promoting white supremacy and its positive portrayal of the Ku Klux Klan.
2:00-5:00 p.m.
Panel Discussion
Leading thinkers and scholars will provide a diversity of perspectives on the topic of race and representation in the media and beyond, including history, film, music, journalism, and photography. Following presentations by the speakers a discussion will be moderated by Margo Jefferson, former theater critic-at-large at The New York Times and associate professor of Writing, Eugene Lang College The New School for Liberal Arts.
Featured speakers include:
- Bill Gaskins, photographer, essayist, Professor of Photography and Art History, Parsons The New School for Design;
- Miriam J. Petty, Assistant Professor, Department of Visual and Performing Arts, Rutgers University-Newark;
- Douglas A. Blackmon, Atlanta Bureau Chief, The Wall Street Journal and Pulitzer-prize winning author, Slavery by Another Name;
- David W. Blight, Class of 1954 Professor of American History and Director of the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance & Abolition, Yale University;
- Michele Wallace, Professor of English, City College and Graduate Center for City University of New York
- Michelle Materre, Assistant Professor, Department of Media Studies and Film, The New School for General Studies and a film distributor and marketer for multicultural film and television projects.
(For full bios of panel speakers please click here.)
6:00-7:30 p.m.
Screening: Paul D. Miller (a.k.a. DJ Spooky), Rebirth of a Nation, 2008
The multimedia artist DJ Spooky will introduce (to be confirmed) his critical revision of the 1915 original. In Rebirth of a Nation, he uses DJ techniques to deconstruct and reconfigure Griffith’s historic film. For more information, visit www.rebirthofanation.com.
About the Vera List Center for Art and Politics at The New School
Founded in 1992 and named in honor of the late philanthropist Vera List, the Vera List Center for Art and Politics embodies The New School’s historic commitment to the arts. It is the site for public discourse on the role of the arts in society at large and on the relationship of the arts to the socio-political climate in which they are created. For more information please visit, www.vlc.newschool.edu.
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