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Semester 1

Introduction to the Moving Image: Expanded History of Cinema (ARTX08089)

Subject

Art

College

CAHSS

Credits

20

Normal Year Taken

2

Delivery Session Year

2022/2023

Pre-requisites

This course may incur additional costs for materials and/or field trips. **Please note that Art courses have extremely limited spaces available, and cannot be requested by visiting students until Monday 19th September; these courses are always very popular, so students cannot be guaranteed a space in any Art course.** These enrolments are managed strictly by the Visiting Student Office, in line with the quotas allocated by the department, and all enquiries to enrol in these courses must be made through the CAHSS Visiting Student Office. It is not appropriate for students to contact the Art department directly to request additional spaces.

Course Summary

Fuelled by the digital revolution, the beginning of the 21st century witnessed a massive migration of images in motion from cinemas to exhibition and public spaces. Now that people are born into a world filled with cameras, this course will provide a framework of references to learn from the moving image outside of the film industry. Film has had such a prevalent influence that traces of it can be found in a growing variety of disciplines. This expanded history will be presented at the crossroads of visual arts, art history, architecture, theatre and anthropology. Through a series of lectures, seminars, screenings, and hands-on workshops informed by multiple approaches to the moving image, this course will equip students with methods of thinking in pictures that can be transferred to their own art practices or studies.

Course Description

Before their first public theatrical screening in 1895, images in motion consisted of automatons, magic lanterns, optical toys, shadow puppets, fountains and fireworks. Since then, the moving image experience has predominantly been identified with the space of the modern theatre, divided between auditorium and screen. Fuelled by the digital revolution, the beginning of the 21st century witnessed a massive migration of images in motion from cinemas to exhibition spaces. It has become possible again, and necessary, to redefine film beyond its theatrical tradition. Now that people are born into a world filled with cameras, this course will provide a framework of references to learn from the moving image outside of the film industry. Film metamorphoses when it is no longer defined by the cinema-theatre. We see everywhere the prefiguration or resurgence of its properties (transparency, fixation, projection, speed, motion, reproduction), in the façade of a building, a tapestry, a series of paintings, a sculpture, a poem, or in the layout of an exhibition. Students will learn from film as an ensemble of forms whose relations and proportions may vary considerably. This expanded history will be presented at the crossroads of visual arts, art history, architecture, theatre, and anthropology. Through a series of lectures, seminars, screenings, and hands-on workshops, this course will equip students with methods of thinking in pictures that can be transferred to their own art practices or studies. Sessions are scheduled each week revolving around specific topics informed by multiple approaches to the moving image (for instance: origins of film; the notion of montage; the individual voice; contemporary artists films; exhibition as film). Students will be expected to engage with preparatory readings or online films to watch in advance of the sessions.

Assessment Information

Written Exam 0%, Coursework 100%, Practical Exam 0%

view the timetable and further details for this course