NEW RED ORDER: GIVE IT BACK: STAGE THEORY

The point of departure for New Red Order’s video art piece Give It Back: Stage Theory (2023) is the détournement of Panorama of the Monumental Grandeur of the Mississippi Valley (1850). This 9-foot-tall, 348-foot-long, proto-cinematic moving panorama was commissioned by and based on the contemporaneous notes and drawings of Montroville W. Dickeson. A 19th-century amateur archaeologist and glorified grave robber, Dickeson spent 12 years traveling the Mississippi River and excavating Indigenous burial mounds.

Originally presented at the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia in 1876, the panorama toured from town to town, accompanied by music, dramatic lighting effects, and sensational narration by Dickeson himself. Give It Back: Stage Theory re-presents the panorama with new narration and music, transforming it into a “Land Back” rave that urgently advocates for the rematriation of all Indigenous land and life. 

About the ArtistS

New Red Order (NRO) is a public secret society with a rotating and expanding cast, facilitated by core contributors Adam Khalil, Zack Khalil, and Jackson Polys. Working with an interdisciplinary network of Informants, NRO co-produces video, performance, and installation works that confront  settler colonial tendencies and obstacles to Indigenous growth and agency.

Adam Khalil, a member of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, is a filmmaker and artist whose practice seeks to subvert traditional forms of image-making through humor, relation, and transgression. He is a co-founder of COUSINS Collective and the recipient of various fellowships and grants. He received his BA in Film and Electronic Arts/Electronic Music from Bard College.

Zack Khalil, a member of the Sault Tribe of Chippewa Indians, is a filmmaker and artist from Bahweting (Sault Ste. Marie, MI), currently based in Lenapehoking (Brooklyn, NY). His work centers Anishinaabe narratives in the present and looks toward the future through innovative nonfiction forms. Khalil has received various fellowships and grants and earned his BA from Bard College’s Film and Electronic Arts Department.

Jackson Polys (Tlingit) is a multidisciplinary artist belonging to Tlingit territory, living and working between what are currently called Alaska and New York. He holds an MFA in Visual Arts from Columbia University and was the recipient of a Native Arts and Cultures Foundation Mentor Artist Fellowship.

New Red Order have presented their work with Museum of Modern Art, Creative Time, and Artists Space (New York City); Walker Art Center (Minneapolis); Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit; Art Sonje Center (Seoul); Haus der Kulturen der Welt (Berlin); Kunsthal Charlottenborg (Copenhagen); Whitney Biennial 2019, Toronto Biennial 2019, Counterpublic, New York Film Festival, and Sundance Film Festival, among others.