American Aria: A Stark Reflection on Democracy’s Fragility

On January 6, 2025, I logged into a Zoom meeting hosted by the Franklin Furnace Archive to witness American Aria, an endurance video piece by multimedia artist Kal Spelletich and filmmaker James Davis. The work, which lasts over six hours, offers an unflinching portrayal of the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. Through a series of haunting, flickering images—speeches by Donald Trump and Rudy Giuliani, an enraged mob surging forward, and law enforcement trapped behind barricades—the piece forces viewers to confront the chaos and violence of that day.
It is an act of remembrance, but more importantly, a chilling reminder that the forces behind this attack are still very much alive in the nation’s political landscape. In an era where political rhetoric is increasingly polarized, American Aria calls on us, to not forget the events of January 6, urging a deeper reflection on the state of our democracy.
As our nation grapples with the consequences of one of the recent elections, the piece becomes a meditation on both past trauma and present uncertainty. The question it poses is urgent:
How much of what happened on January 6 is behind us, and how much of it lingers in the shadows, ready to reemerge?
The project’s widespread screenings—at venues including Oakwood Arts in Richmond, VA, Artists Television Access in San Francisco, CA, and Office Space Gallery in Detroit, MI—further cement its significance as a national conversation starter. By bringing American Aria into diverse cultural spaces, these screenings catalyze a broader dialogue on the state of our democracy and the dangers posed by political extremism.

Kal Spelletich took the time to answer some questions about his process in co-creating American Aria which will be showing again in San Francisco at Telematic Gallery in SF this April.
BAS: Could you walk us through your process of selecting and manipulating the archival footage from the January 6th insurrection, and how you approached its transformation into an art piece rather than a documentary?
Kal Spelletich: “We start from the beginning, noon Jan. 6, 2021 with Trump and son’s speeches with ‘America’s Mayor’ Rudy Giuliani. . . . We (Seamus Davis and I) were looking for rare footage and focusing on certain characters (all of whom will soon be out of jail). The footage oftentimes, is manipulated, colorized, reversed and layered beyond recognition.”
BAS: How did you approach the composition of the soundscape—was it designed to be a counterpoint to the imagery, a reflection of the chaos, or perhaps something more? How do the sonic layers work together to evoke emotional and conceptual responses to the footage?
Kal Spelletich: “The audio peaks and flows like a film telling a story. The sounds track the mayhem and pause to let us catch our breaths before the next wave of idiocracy is unleashed. Soundtracks are used to manipulate audiences. Ours comes with the bonus of the actual sounds of the insurrection, often manipulated beyond recognition. The audio is used to invoke passion, fear, humor, joy….all emotions.
There is an audio arc or several arcs to the project following the actual timeline. Intensely violent sections that eventually lull you into a sort of numbed complacency then shock you back awake using both the imagery and sounds. We create these peaks and valleys throughout the 6 hours and 11 minutes.”
BAS: Why did you decide to invest so much time and depth into a work addressing this particular moment in American history, and what do you hope viewers take away from such a prolonged encounter with this event?
Kal Spelletich: “To understand something one must live it, not watch from the outside looking in.
It is telling that large institutions won’t touch this. I am grateful that it has been screened by smaller artists run spaces 7 times.”
BAS: What role do you believe art can play in processing or even shaping the public’s understanding of historical events like the insurrection?
Kal Spelletich: “Art is what civilizations are judged by. We will either save our civilization with the arts or die trying. . . It is important for me to foreground this material without platforming or indirectly heroicizing these terrorist insurgents. It is sickening to watch, then hilarious, then nauseating and then banal. Just like our country.”
