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Simon Schama, Big Data art, Night of the Demon

Historian and presenter Simon Schama on The Story of the Jews; the artists who find inspiration in big data; the most famous monster in British cinema history. With Kirsty Lang.

With Kirsty Lang

Historian Simon Schama discusses the challenge of bringing his latest project The Story of the Jews to television, the importance of story-telling to the Jewish experience, and how his former professor inspired him to focus on bringing history to popular audiences.

The vast and ever-growing amount of information now stored on computer servers around the world has become a ready source of inspiration for artists. With an estimated 90 per cent of the world's data having been created in the last two years, there is plenty to call on. Artists Stanza and R Luke Dubois explain how they mine so-called "Big Data" to create images and music, and curator Hannah Redler describes how data has been used to make art since the early days of the internet.

The British Film Institute kicks off its Gothic Season with a restored print of cult classic Night Of The Demon. This 1957 horror, by Cat People director Jacques Tourneur, stars Dana Andrews as a psychologist who enters a battle of wills against a psychic and cult leader called Karswell. The film partly owes its cult status to its monster, one of the most famous in British film history, and Matthew Sweet goes on its trail.

Producer Ella-mai Robey.

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30 minutes

Chapters

  • Simon Schama - The Story of the Jews

    Historian Simon Schama on the challenge of bringing The Story of the Jews to TV

    Duration: 11:03

  • Big Data

    How the vast, ever-growing information stored on computer servers has inspired artists

    Duration: 11:11

  • Night Of The Demon

    The BFI kicks off its Gothic Season with the cult classic Night Of The Demon

    Duration: 05:19

Credits

Role Contributor
Presenter Kirsty Lang
Interviewed Guest Simon Schama
Interviewed Guest Stanza
Interviewed Guest R Luke Dubois
Interviewed Guest Hannah Redler
Producer Ella-mai Robey

Broadcast

  • Thu 29 Aug 2013 19:15

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