Memory Room 451
4.5January 1, 199625m
Loading player...
Sources:
Note: If a source doesn't work, try switching to a different one. Some sources may have ads or pop-ups - we recommend using an ad blocker for the best experience.
About This Movie
The subject matter of Memory Room 451 is the cultural and historical significance of 20th-century hairstyles – the Afro, the conk, dreadlocks – in Black communities on both sides of the Atlantic. Akomfrah has disguised this exploration as a science fiction story – in the manner of the groundbreaking writers profiled in The Last Angel of History – while providing a bravura display of the aesthetics of video art in the 1990s. The tale of visitors from the future who gather dreams from unwitting subjects in order to construct a history of the Black diaspora both defamiliarizes Akomfrah’s ongoing project and points to the danger that extracting history from memory can be a kind of expropriation.
Science FictionDocumentary
