The Room of Shadows

The Room of Shadows is a project consisting of a publication and a film of the same name, both created by Camilo Restrepo (Medellín, 1975) in response to an invitation extended by the school. The idea stems from a seminar given by the Colombian filmmaker to EQZE students during the 2019-2020 academic year. After the end of the seminar, the filmmaker was invited by the school to produce a piece linked to the theme of the workshop, which was to question the context in which images and representations of the world arise and the impact that they have on reality.

The project traces a pathway through numerous works of art, films, books and photographs that illustrate how art and its diverse manifestations have been used to establish economic interests, promote ideologies, implement strategies of colonisation and exercise all kinds of social and cultural discrimination. As Camilo Restrepo says, the works highlight the mechanics of domination, but also indicate possible tools and pathways for emancipation. Francis Alÿs, Fernando Botero, Bertolt Brecht, Guy Debord, Paul Klee, Alexander Kluge, Milan Kundera, Chris Marker, Susan Meiselas, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Sophie Ristelhueber, Martha Rosler, Deborah Stratman, Kidlat Tahimik, René Vautier and Robert Walser are just some of the artists cited and referenced in The Room of Shadows.

Both the publication and the film (a mise en scène of the 26 works that make up the book) explore narrative forms such as essay and fiction and make use of visual elements such as drawings, photographs, film and the moving image. 

Camilo Restrepo has lived and worked in Paris since 1999. His films have been screened at many different festivals, including Cannes (La Quinzaine des cinéastes), Toronto and New York. He has twice been awarded the Pardino d’Argento at the Locarno Festival. In 2020, his first feature film, Los Conductos, won the Best First Feature Award in the Encounters section of the Berlinale.

Author: Camilo Restrepo
Editor: Elías Querejeta Zine Eskola
Number of pages: 150 
ISSN: 978-84-7907-865-2
Year: 2024