Watching: War of the Worlds

Overview

Collage film built upon the audio of The War of the Worlds, directed and narrated by Orson Welles. Originally broadcast in October 1938 as a Halloween prank, the program famously triggered mass panic across the United States, as its format—presented as a series of live news bulletins—proved uncannily convincing. Absorbing the visual language of the contemporary media environment, W:A:R:O:F:T:H:E:W:O:R:L:D:S constructs a peculiar media-archaeological artifact. AI-generated videos, drone footage, feature films, video games, and online fragments converge with the original radio broadcast, creating a layered and unstable field of perception.