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Film and video in the space of contemporary art
An in-depth look at the funding of contemporary films at home and abroad. The subject avails itself of a detailed analysis of sources of funds to draw up a map of alternative resources: festivals, forums, foundations, sponsorship, subsidies, internships, competitions, self-funding and patronages. It draws comparisons between the financing of films and the financing of audiovisual art, in a bid to find connections and cooperation to help depict the economic panorama in which films are emerging in the 21st century.
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Festival under construction
A cross-curricular subject directed by the San Sebastián Film Festival in which the preparations for the forthcoming edition of the festival are explained and a reflection is proposed on the nature of film festivals in the 21st century. The San Sebastián Film Festival will be the starting point and will serve as a case study based on which it re-thinks itself.
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Programming models, criteria, schools and paradigms III
Continuing the work done in module 3, this subject looks at film programming via specific cases covering both regular arrangements (at film libraries and permanent establishments) and more concentrated arrangements (festivals and one-off events). It deals with conceptual issues concerned with programming and practical organisational matters (such as budgeting, funding, the negotiating of rights, showing, etc.).
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Curatorships, mediation and public audiences
To a large extent curators act as intermediaries between the project and society. Although all the work they do ultimately comes under public scrutiny, an essential component of this process is a specific examination of communication and final mediation, to usher in a certain amount of circularity, exchange, dialogue and mutual enrichment, including the artist or the director. The subject avails itself of a heterogeneous plural vision of public audiences to address these issues.
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Spaces for exhibition and exposure. Black box vs. white box
Films are examined on the basis of a categorisation of exhibition areas. The complex history of movie screens has recently been enhanced by screens in galleries and rooms in museums, propitiating new ways of going to the cinema. In addition to its analysis of the theoretical implications and major case studies, the subject offers tools for a practical examination of spatial adaptation of a curatorship project or a programming project.
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Programming models, criteria, schools and paradigms
This subject conducts a detailed examination of the various film programming paradigms, both those emerging on a regular basis over time (in archives and stable centres) and those concentrated in certain periods (one-off events and festivals). The subject features a historic/conceptual journey which pauses to dwell on specific creators, spaces and projects which have turned programming into an art of “putting on films”.
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Drawing up and scheduling curatorship projects
The purpose of this methodological subject is a breakdown of sections, requisites, approaches and tools to draw up a curatorship project. Setting the project out in a written document is an essential step in terms of sharing and materialising this idea. This phase constitutes the initial specification of the project, and in this regard it is an ultimate test of its sense of reality and its feasibility. The subject examines practical issues in relation to styles of documents, styles of writing, indexing and structure, among others.
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Writing and critical thought 2
Continuation of the section on writing and development of critical thought. Here it addresses the generation of thought on the basis of writing with images. Particular emphasis will be laid on audiovisual essays, in a bid to produce critical thought generated using the film industry’s own media.
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The other film camera
A theoretical reflection and practical exercise in forms of projection. Learning to project, exploring the vision and experience of projectors, from the magic lantern to the DCP.
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Film production and ideation processes: the curator as producer
Curators often play the role of an agent in the ideation and management of a film project, i.e. in the production of a film or a number of films. Although the origins of the productions may differ from the usual procedures, production processes adhere to the same criteria. From this analytic viewpoint, the subject takes a practical look at the work of the curator as the initiator and driver of cinematographic or audiovisual productions.
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Film apparatus and technological mediation
The peculiarities of exhibition facilities to create the emotional and intellectual experience of films have been the focus of theoretical reflection since the 70s. Moreover, the changes introduced in recent years with new digital projection systems and a network strewn with images from Internet, from the point of view of creation, and therefore of curators, have made a huge star of film equipment, not only in the sense of necessary intermediate technology, but as an agent actively creating emotions. This subject focuses on an analysis, comparison and examination of apparatus and technological mediation.
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Screens
This subject is therefore a space for joint reflection on the way that we programme film and audiovisual work in a space like Tabakalera. We will start out from the beginnings of the project, the plans, and the decisions that we had to take about the physical nature and characteristics of the spaces.; we will review the three years that we have been working and we will learn about what similar art centres do in the rest of the world; and we will embark on a hypothesis in which we imagine a film theatre and cinema open 24 hours a day for 365 days a year: endless cinema.
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Key concepts of curatorship thinking
Introduction to curatorship thinking. Not only does the subject take students on a historical voyage of developments in museology, exhibitions, collectionism, artistic programming and the emergence of independent curators, but it also touches on the key concepts of contemporary artistic curatorship.
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Writing and critical thought 1
The need to activate critical thought in relation to the film industry and to seek ways of developing it in a practical manner by means of exercises and readings forms the basis of this two-part subject which appears throughout the entire course. The first part addresses writing about images and sounds, while the second focuses on writing with images and sounds.
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Peculiarities of film curatorships
Reflection on cinematographic exhibitions has been with films since the outset, but conceptualisation is an extremely recent topic and is still being systematised. The subject attempts to furnish an accurate definition of knowledge and action in connection with film curatorship, its relationship with other activities such as preservation and the archive, its predominant role in creation and its responsibility in expanding new spaces of cinematographic exhibition.
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Curator's editorial work: catalogues and publications
This class considers editorial aspects of curatorial practice, both conceptually and practically: from programme notes and festival catalogues to magazines, books and other kinds of publications. The subject is divided in two parts: in one hand, through specific projects and historical examples, Mark Webber proposes a look at print production, interviews, editing, proofreading, book design & layout, printing and distribution. On the other hand, discussions on the students’ “Hipótesis” book project will be held. Garbiñe Ortega will be in charge of the follow-up; she will offer advice and feedback on its development.
