american culture

another one via boingboing:

here's an interview with dj spooky:

IDEAS: "Rhythm Science" criticizes American culture for being both alienating and conservative.

MILLER: Young people today have grown up in an era of multiplex consciousness, a media-saturated culture where meaning is no longer tethered to the ground of its origins. So why isn't there a broad artistic movement focused on coping with the information vertigo we experience daily? Except for a few turntablists and software-swapping geeks, Americans are trapped in what I call a micro-niche mentality. We lack any awareness of the big picture, we passively accept the status quo, we do nothing besides pressing PLAY.
[...]
most Americans are conditioned to be consumers -- we spend millions on the products of top-down corporate culture, we're hypnotized by reality television, we have no awareness of history. "Dj Spooky" is an art project intended to encourage people to understand the dynamics of the broadcast mentality, to play with the culture instead of just pressing PLAY. I'd like Americans to become "actionary" instead of reactionary, to collect and exchange samples of our culture and use them to create new forms, new styles, new ways of thinking.

dj spooky gave a talk at the creative commons launch party at the end of 2002 where he showed parts of his remix of birth of a nation, which is pretty good. video of the event can be found here on lisa rein's blog.