Student Projects 2014

XII MAGIS – Gorizia International Spring School | Gorizia, April 5-11, 2014

The XII MAGIS – International Spring School, organized by the University of Udine in collaboration with its network of partners– the Universities of Amsterdam, Birkbeck-University of London, Bochum, Fachhochschule Potsdam, Frankfurt, Liège, Malta, Milano-Cattolica, Paris III, Paris-Est-Marne-la-Vallée, Pompeu Fabra-Barcelona, Potsdam, Pisa, Sunderland and CineGraph/CineFest-Hamburg, GRAFICS/Université de Montréal, Associazione Culturale Maiè – is articulated in the following sections:

Cinema & Contemporary Visual Art: Analog Media in the Digital Era. The advent of digital technologies in contemporary art production seems to have generated a paradoxical fascination with analog media and devices. Since the 1990s many artists (Manon de Boer, Tacita Dean, Rodney Graham, Fiona Tan, Paul De Marinis) have started using and combinig pieces of out-of-date analog technologies as part of their artworks. As some researchers (Strauven, Huhtamo) pointed out, this tendency to “resurrect technological past” is not to be interpreted as mere nostalgic inclination but rather as a media archeological interest into the life of old devices and apparatuses, also extended to “contemporary technologies [used] as both the terrain and the tool for archeological excavation”. This year, Cinema & Contemporary Visual Art section will deal with issues related to the use of old analog audiovisual technologies in the digital era, focusing on three main research areas: media art production, media preservation and exhibition strategies.

The Film Heritage: CUT! Censorship, Archive, Governance. The section is organized by University of Udine – La Camera Ottica Film and Video Restoration, CineGraph Hamburg, University of Applied Sciences Potsdam & University of Potsdam (European Media Studies). After having stressed the Institutionalization of Film Cultures (Film Heritage 2012) and the Accessibility Policies (Film Heritage 2013), the 2014 workshop will deal with The Non-Access / Blocking Access / Disabling Access issues. In order to deepen the analysis of film culture apparatuses/dispositifs, the next edition will explore the field of “the forbidden”, facing the problem of censorship and also expanding the framework of non-accessibility towards archive and governance, curatorship, and the market, restriction policies, invisibility and technological obsolescence.

Post-Cinema: The Border Within-Human Body in Contemporary Media. The section aims at investigating the body’s contemporary status in the realm of new media, such as videogames or the internet. It also aims at analysing the body in the realm of those old visual media (like cinema), which are influenced by the postmedial condition, with specific attention to the innovations generated by technological shifts. Our main interest lies in the increasing attention on the human body as a theoretical focus and in constant reference to past and contemporary authors or theoretical frameworks (Deleuze, Foucault, Merleau-Ponty, embodiement, post-humanism, IA, Gender Theories). Our main focus is on the constant transformation process the concept of human body is going through within the realm of contemporary media products. We would like to explore the borders of the human body as it lies on the verge of opposite conceptual poles – life and death, real and false, technology and flesh, organic and not organic, human and cyborg, human and animal.

Cartography of Pornographic Audiovisual: Southern and Eastern European Pornography. This section aims at mapping the distinguishing features of national pornographies and the glocalization processes through which particular national pornographic practices are translated into transnational forms. In particular, this year the section is dedicated to the analysis of the development and the specific characters of pornography within Southern and Eastern Europe (on a historical, geographical, socio-economic, linguistic, stylistic and political/institutional level), with a particular focus on the following issues: birth and institutionalization of audiovisual pornography in the area;Southern and Eastern European pornographic industries and economies; Southern and Eastern European pornographic genres and styles; Southern and Eastern European legislative systems and censorship; Southern and Eastern European “auteurs”, commercial/mainstream producers and stardoms; Southern and Eastern European audiences.

Kooperation & Koordinatio:: Prof. Dr. Jan Distelmeyer