Introduction:
Initiated by New Media Society in 2018, after 4 years of educational activities,
the Tehran based collective/ archive and library has created a platform for
alternative education to cover the intersection of Inter-media/ Moving Images and experimental film.
The summer school of Moving images and new media finished its second year in
August 2019, The workshops and lectures span over the course of 2 months from June to August in 2 parts. The 1st intensive part focused on various modes of media perception, interview techniques, and transmedia on stage
(theater/dance/performance) among other topics.
And the 2nd part took place during the Limited Access Festival (July 26 – August
2, 2019)
Around video presentation/exhibition design in museums / experimental films /
Video Art scene in Isfahan and Crowdfunding in Art and Media Projects.
This post only focuses on the German lecturers/artists/filmmakers whose
presence made possible with the kind support of the German embassy, we also had
the pleasure of benefiting from workshop leaders and curators from Iran, Turkey,
The Netherlands, Canada, and Austria.
About the Summer School 2019:
- Artistic Films – From Materiality to Immateriality | Wolfgang
Knapp - The Role Of Interview In Documentary Filmmaking | Presenting The
Oral Storytelling Interview Forms | Friederike Bérat - Video And Cinematography On Stage in Performing Arts, Concerts, and
Performances | Nazgol Emami - Technic visions from Videonale on tour Program (Screening and
workshop) | Tasja Langenbac
Workshop by Wolfgang Knapp:
The Main Topic of the Workshop:
Artistic Films – From Materiality to Immateriality – About Changes in Contexts
of Making, Presenting, Perceiving, Interpreting and Distributing Film
Workshop Leader Biography:
Wolfgang Knapp focuses on interdisciplinary projects, art and
the media, curatorial activities, and international project cooperation. Knapp
is professor h.c. At the Department of Fine Arts and Design at Zhejiang
Commercial Technical College in Hangzhou/China and has been the chairperson of
the Commission for artistic and scientific projects at the University for the
Arts in Berlin. He created the udk-Preis für interdisziplinäre Kunst und
Wissenschaft(udk Prize for interdisciplinary art and science).
Date and Period:
– The Workshop started on June 11, 2019, and completed 14 June 2019
– The Duration of the workshop was 12 hours during the 4 days.
Target Participants:
– There Were 12 participants from various artistic backgrounds,
including Filmmaking, Photography, Choreography, Animation, Arts Criticism,
Music Technology and Digital Media, etc.
The Methodology of the Workshop:
– Providing Context on the goals and the backgrounds of participants
and their unanswered questions in their artistic career.
– Brainstorming Regards the definition of Space, Place, and
Atmosphere.
– Exposing Participants to various film perception situations with
the available resources in New Media Projects, namely a cell phone screen,
Laptop monitor, old TV set, wall projectors.
– Leading Open discussions, in both verbal and written form, on
interactive, interdisciplinary approaches to conducting artistic projects.
– Encouraging Collective interactions and practical exercises,
individually and collectively.
The Discussed Questions During the Workshop:
– How Space, time, and chronobiology of film perception influence
using, understanding, and interpretation of films.
– How Many different kinds of technical-based film presentation
(mechanical/analog and digital) could we find in the past two or three decades?
– How Far individual biographies of film perception vary in a given
period? (This Question included a biography-based mapping of individual film
consuming/looking/using).
Public Lecture by Wolfgang Knapp
“Moving Images; Presentation Contexts And the Separation of Perception”
New Media Projects hosted the public lecture on June 15, 2019. The lecture was
in English with consecutive interpretations by the Farsi-English interpreter.
The lecturer’s focus was on recent exhibitions like Venice Biennale 2019 and
shows in China (Shanghai and Hangzhou). In Analyzing the contemporary art
spaces, Wofgang Knapp presented a historical timeline dating back to the Teatro
Olimpico (“Olympic Theatre”) in Vicenza until Joan Jonas installation, named
Moving Off the Land II, at Ocean Space, Chiesa di San Lorenzo in 2019. The main
points of presenting this wide-ranging spectrum were to highlight the
atmosphere, design, spaces, and recent conditions of looking at moving images in
exhibitions, shows, and screenings to explore if we are observing a gradual
shift from collective viewing to the individual perception context.
Workshop by Friederike Berat: The Role Of Interview In Documentary
Filmmaking
The Main Topic of the Workshop:
This workshop was intended to present a reflection about different interview
approaches in documentary filmmaking, the connection between form and content,
and the responsibilities you should think about before making a documentary and
conducting an interview.
Workshop Leader Biography:
Friederike Berat (born in 1971 in Berlin) is a curator and
filmmaker based in Berlin. She studied directing at ETTIC Paris and has been
making documentaries and video-installations. She is head of s.c.e.n.e 5 Verein
für Kultur und mehr e. V., organizes the exhibition and event space Villa
Kuriosum in Berlin Lichtenberg und is the founder and artistic director of
Circus Charivari.
Date and Period:
– The Workshop started on June 21, 2019, and completed June 23 2019
– The Duration of the workshop was 12 hours during the 3 days.
Target Participants:
There were 7 participants with various artistic backgrounds including
Documentary Filmmaking, Architecture, Photography, Sociology, and Cultural
Economics.
The Methodology Of the Workshop:
- Performing introductory talk on various methods of interviews, the related
applications in documentaries, the technical and formal conventions through
presenting wide-ranging samples. - Providing context on the ongoing projects of participants to help them
select the appropriate practice of interviewing. - .
The Discussed Questions During the Workshop:
- How to conduct an oral history interview?
- How to film an oral history interview? (Creative choices)
- How to edit an oral history interview?
The workshop progress
- Participants Present their ongoing projects and try to comment and share
their ideas - Following up and practicing interview techniques and choosing different
angles for their final practice. - Participants share their own experiences and struggles with their interviews
- Writing interview questions for practicing terms and theory of Storyboard in
documentary film - Discussing the role of the interview in film, photography and social studies
- Using interview techniques for research and art practices
Public Screening “We Did What Had To Be Done”
90-min Documentary by Friederike Bérat and Ulrike Ertl + Q&A with the director
The Screening was held at New Media Project on June 20, 2019. There was a brief
artist talk with Friederike Bérat after the screening, the audience asked
questions about her methods in making this specific documentary and the
social/political implications of the interviews conducted during the film.
About:
“We did what had to be done” is a documentary about the role
that women played in the Northern Irish Troubles. “We Did what had to be done”
is a phrase nearly all interview partners used to describe their involvement.
Depending on their political affiliation, however, they meant very different
things with those words: to work in a British Army store, to break out of the
women’s prison in Armagh, to transport bombs, or to educate their children to
become Republican fighters or British soldiers. The women described their roles
in the war as a result of their individual political conviction, but above all,
they saw themselves as those who had to come to pragmatic decisions. With few
exceptions, the women stayed in the background. Unlike their male combatants,
they are rarely mentioned in history books or in the narration of the wartime.
This documentary wants to tell their story.
Workshop by Nazgol Emami:
Video And Cinematography on Stage:
In Performing Arts, Concerts, and Performances
The workshop focus was to encourage the participant to find a connection between
themselves, the surrounding space, and other participants. Based on each
participant’s personal expertise, they tried to carry out a cooperative
interdisciplinary project with the available material and devices in the very
place the workshop was held.
Workshop Leader Biography:
Nazgol Emami was born in Tehran in 1978. She lives and works as
a filmmaker and media artist in Cologne. Nazgol holds a Master’s degree in
Visual Communication from the University of Wuppertal and a diploma in Media
Arts from the Academy of Media Arts Cologne.
Since her early career, she has been working as a graphic designer in motion
design and a production manager, assistant director for various TV stations
(WDR, the Kinderkanal, Disney Channel, and Super RTL) and film productions. She
created media workshops for children and youngsters on photography, film, and
animation techniques for museums, art institutions, and schools.
She has been making video design on stage for many theatre productions and
musicians, across Germany, Austria, and Greece. Her work has been exhibited and
screened in Iran, Turkey, Serbia, Brazil, France, and the US. Further, as an
interdisciplinary artist, she engages in various forms of media such as video,
animation, photography, design, and architecture in her projects. In her works,
she focuses on socially relevant topics such as Identity, migration and working
life.
Date and Period:
– The workshop started on July 3, 2019, and completed July 5 2019
– The duration of the workshop was 9 hours during the 3 days.
Target Participants:
There were 8 participants with various artistic backgrounds including
َAnimation, Architecture, Photography, and Sound Art and Digital Art.
The methodology of the Workshop:
Various examples were shown to prepare the ground for an opportunity to
carry out small practices and exercises in an interdisciplinary space.
Asking each participant to choose a part of the New Media Projects building
to install their installation.
The participants had to use these five elements in making their
installation: Mirror, Projector, Moving images, Microphone, and a piece of
clothing. They had to present a project statement too.
An exhibition was held in New Media Projects displaying the participants’
projects.
The Discussed Questions During the Workshop:
- How to change the perception of rooms and spaces via projections?
- How to combine the live camera with found footage, staged footage, and
animated videos on multi-channel Projections? - What is the workflow?
- What are the contextual and technical parameters working on a field?
- Where do different media melt together?
- How to produce a multi-layered video?
One day workshop by Tasja Langenbach Technic visions from Videonale on tour
Program (Screening Seminar)
Date and Period:
– The Seminar started on July 31, 2019, and completed the same day.
The duration of the workshop was 3 hours.
Target Participants:
There were 14 participants from various artistic backgrounds including
Documentary Filmmaking, Animation, Architecture, Digital Media, Photography,
Sociology curating, and Cultural studies.
Biography:
Tasja Langenbach studied Art History and Cultural Sciences in Germany and Spain.
After working at the ZKM / Center for Arts and Media Karlsruhe, Germany for the
exhibition project MakingThings Public – Atmospheres of Democracy, she held a
position as gallery manager at Gallery Anita Beckers, Frankfurt, Germany. In the
following years, she curated the yearly film program of SoundTrack_Cologne / See
the Sound in Cologne, Germany, and was responsible for the festival program of
Videonale – Festival for Video and Time-Based Arts, Bonn, Germany. Since 2012
she has been the Artistic Director of Videonale. Tasja Langenbach still
periodically takes part in prize and competition juries, curates video and film
programs for different occasions, contribute to catalogs and teaches in the MA
program Culture, Aesthetics, Media at the University for Applied Sciences in
Dusseldorf.
For Limited Access Festival, Tasja Langenbach presented a special screening
program of the recent edition of the Videonale, REFRACTED REALITIES – a
selection Videonale 2017, as well as a public talk on the history of the
festival and its strategies on the course of decades since 1984, in presenting
moving images in an exhibition format and museum context. The screening/talk and
seminar took place at Bidar School for Art and Literature.
In addition to that she has held a One Day Seminar On One Of The Videonale On
Tour Programs: Technic Visions, Which is composed out of 6 works from the 80s to
today which had been presented in the past Videonale editions. The focus here is
on how artists deal with the technical developments of media technologies, from
an artistic point of view (as artistic material) but also from a social point of
view (how technologies influence social and identity processes).
Public talk by Tasja Langenbach | On Videonale
Videonale – Festival for Video and Time-Based Arts was founded in Bonn in 1984
and since this time takes place every two years. Since 2005 the festival and its
exhibition is located at the local art museum, the Kunstmuseum Bonn. Videonale
is one of the oldest festivals for video and time-based arts in Europe with a
special focus on young and upcoming international artists.
The 17th edition of the festival took place from February 21st to April 14th,
2019 and presented 29 moving image artworks from 20 countries, selected from
more than 1.100 entries under the topic of REFRACTED REALITIES. In optics,
“refraction” refers to the bending of a beam of light, a change in direction
which occurs at the moment when it passes from one medium to another. In its
figurative sense, refraction refers to a critical reflection on the means and
channels of visualization, and by extension, the possibility of our view of
things – how they are, were, or apparently, always have been. Our interest was
to ask what artistic strategies are currently being developed to create
alternative points of view and to integrate new perspectives. Which visual
languages are available to the artist? And how can we use these languages to
enter into dialogue again and discuss how we see things, saw them, or apparently
always have seen them?