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REDCAT Presents the Mercurial Mixmaster DJ Spooky in his acclaimed Rebirth of a Nation

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October 4, Los Angeles--In an audiovisual extravaganza, Paul D. Miller, aka DJ Spooky That Subliminal Kid, turns the tables on a landmark American film: D.W. Griffith's 1915 silent classic, Birth of a Nation. A film remembered as much for the national controversy stirred by its racist content as for its brilliantly innovative cinematic technique, REDCAT presents the L.A. premiere of Miller's live 75-minute multimedia remix in which he breaks up the original, blending the fragments with new footage--and sets the images to his own score. Rebirth of a Nation runs from October 12-16, at 8:30 p.m.

For DJ Spooky's Rebirth of a Nation, cinematic history is the starting point for a critique, not only of history, but also of how film has come to represent historical events and conditions. "What Griffith did with cinema was create a context of mythic propositions--of a nation occupied by foreign troops, of laws imposed without concern for the local populace, of exploitation and political corruption," explains Miller. "This piece asks that the viewer break the loops holding the past and present together so that the future can leak through. It's a film piece that posits no answers, only more questions."

Miller is a New York-based conceptual artist, writer, and musician whose work has appeared in a variety of contexts such as the Whitney Biennial; The Venice Biennial for Architecture (year 2000); the Ludwig Museum in Cologne, Germany; Kunsthalle, Vienna; The Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh among many others.

His written work has appeared in such publications as The Village Voice and Artforum. Miller's first collection of essays, Rhythm Science, was published by MIT Press, and was included in several year-end lists of the best books of 2004, including the Guardian (UK) and Publishers Weekly. Sound Unbound, an anthology of writings on sound art and multi-media by contemporary cultural theorists will be published in 2005.

Miller, best known under the moniker of his "constructed persona" as "DJ Spooky That Subliminal Kid," has recorded and collaborated with a wide variety of musicians and composers such as Iannis Xenakis, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Butch Morris, Kool Keith a.k.a. Doctor Octagon, Pierre Boulez, Killa Priest from Wu-Tang Clan, Steve Reich, Yoko Ono and Thurston Moore from Sonic Youth among many others. For more information about Miller and his national projects, visit www.djspooky.com.

DJ Spooky's Rebirth of A Nation was commissioned by The Lincoln Center Festival, Festival D'Automne à Paris, Spoleto Festival USA and Wiener Festwochen (Vienna). Additional support was provided by the American Center Foundation and Mass MOCA.

REDCAT, CalArts' downtown center for innovative visual, performing and media arts, is located at the corner of W. 2nd St. and S. Hope St., inside the Walt Disney Concert Hall complex. DJ Spooky's: Rebirth of a Nation runs from October 12-16, 2005; Wednesday-Sunday at 8:30 p.m. Ticket prices range from $24-16. $100 Benefit Performance and Afterparty on Friday, October 14. Seating is general admission. Tickets may be purchased at the REDCAT box office--located at the corner of 2nd and Hope Streets, by calling 213.237.2800, or by clicking here.

REDCAT benefits from an endowment created through the generosity of The Walt Disney Company; The Sharon D. Lund Foundation; Robert B. Egelston; Lee and Lawrence J. Ramer; and Dorothy R. Sherwood.

REDCAT's 2005-06 season programming is generously supported by The Herb Alpert Foundation; American Composers Forum of Los Angeles; The Annenberg Foundation; Anonymous; Argosy Foundation Contemporary Music Fund; California Community Foundation; The Capital Group Companies Charitable Foundation (Corporate matching gift); CEMAT (Centri Musicali Attrezzati, Rome); City of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department; CONACULTA; Margit Sperling Cotsen and Lloyd Cotsen; Cultural Services of the French Embassy; Delphi Capital Management, Inc.; e-flux; Étant Donnés, The French-American Fund for the Visual Arts, a program of the French American Cultural Exchange; The French-American Fund for Contemporary Music, a program of FACE; French Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Harriett and Richard Gold; Lenore S. and Bernard A. Greenberg; Elyse and Stanley Grinstein; Henson International Festival of Puppet Theater; IIC (Instituto Italiano di Cultura, Los Angeles); The Japan Foundation Performing Arts JAPAN; La Colección Jumex; kurimanzutto; L.A. Louver Gallery, Inc.; The Sharon D. Lund Foundation; Steve Martin; National Dance Project of the New England Foundation for the Arts; National Endowment for the Arts; E. Nakamichi Foundation; Phaedrus Foundation; Vicki Reynolds Pepper and Murray Pepper; The Puffin Foundation, Inc.; V. Joy Simmons; The Skirball Foundation; SONORA, in collaboration with Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Italy; The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts; and White Cube Gallery, London.

As CalArts' downtown center for innovative visual, media and performing arts, REDCAT, the Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater, introduces diverse audiences, students and artists to the most influential developments in the arts from around the world, and gives artists in the Los Angeles region the creative support they need to achieve national and international stature. REDCAT is a center for experimentation, discovery and charged civic discourse.

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