25.03.2011
Flatpack Festival
Ikon Eastside, 183 Fazeley Street, Digbeth, Birmingham, B5 5SE
3pm - 5pm

Animate Projects and Flatpack Festival present a screening of experimental film Make It New John, followed with the artist Duncan Campbell in conversation with curator Anna Douglas.

Best known for its starring role in Back to the Future, the DeLorean DMC-12 is an enduring symbol of brash 80s optimism. Its designer John DeLorean had risen through the ranks at General Motors, and when he left to set up his own company he persuaded the British government to help bankroll a new factory on the outskirts of Belfast with a promise to bring prosperity and unity to the area. It all turned out very differently. In a story which rings plenty of contemporary bells, Make It New John stirs together 50s surf tunes, 80s news reports and scripted reconstructions to explore the mechanics of selling a dream.

Born in Belfast and based in Glasgow, Duncan Campbell is an artist preoccupied with the way in which myths can solidify into fact through the media. He often works with found material, delving through archives for outtakes and offcuts which will help to illuminate the edges of a story. His 2008 film Bernadette uses contemporary news footage to create a fascinating but deliberately fragmented picture of Republican activist-turned-minister Bernadette Devlin, and more recently he has explored the Northern Irish adventures of Delorean.

Tickets: £6.50/£4.50 from Flatpack Festival