Instructions for a Light and Sound Machine,Peter Tscherkassky, Austria, 2005, 35mm, 17'
The hero of Instructions for a Light and Sound Machine is easy to identify. Walking down the street unknowingly, he suddenly realizes that he is not only subject to the gruesome moods of several spectators but also at the mercy of the filmmaker. He defends himself heroically, but is condemned to the gallows, where he dies a filmic death through a tearing of the film itself. Our hero then descends into Hades, the realm of shades. Here, in the underground of cinematography, he encounters innumerable printing instructions, the means whereby the existence of every filmic image is made possible. In other words, our hero encounters the conditions of his own possibility, the conditions of his very existence as a filmic shade. “Instructions for a Light and Sound Machine is an attempt to transform a Roman Western into a Greek tragedy.“
Peter Tscherkassky
Gustav“My father always wanted a boy,” explains Eva Jantschitsch, “so he used to call me 'Gustav' until I was at least three.” The 26-year-old Austrian fine arts student seems to translate anarchist praxis into audacious - yet intimate - synth rock. Though actually, there is a lot more to it. Unlike most post-Le Tigre satellites, whether rhyming along to Hakim Bey, droning against patriarchy, or recalling Carlo Guliani (who was killed at the GB conference in Genoa), Jantschitsch’s approach is both non-reactionary and subtly humorous. Indeed, her sunny, heavily accented voice, wrapped in a digital orchestral sound, often cracks as if she can't help laughing, welled up with the belief that we can ultimately make a so-called 'better world'. “Let's keep it blurred and kitschy,” she jokes.
To make it clear: we are dealing with a talented singer and producer used to great many performances in various groups and collectives in which various members both compose and play their music. Unfortunately, however, the 'female singer' epithet reduces Eva Jantschitsch to a mere vocalist, something which this artist does not hold with at all. The Gustav project thus stems from an emancipatory need to exist as a complete authoress. At the same time, the male name of the project neutralises the original moment of a female at the forefront of the predominantly male backdrop that is music scene/industry, which in itself provides the possibility for different scenarios. The electronic music scene has an overwhelmingly masculine countenance: organisers, writers, sound designers, journalists, reviewers etc., are for the most part men. This exerts a strong influence on creative work and modes of expression, despite the possibilities and abilities that allow the female artist to join such a dominancy-characterised context. Therefore Jantschitsch believes that events, such as Ladyfest as well as other cities of women, are unconditionally essential as projects that revolt against the general practise of the Cultural Industry.
“Save the whales, overthrow the system,” urges Gustav, laying out the path towards a non-consumptive way of life. By citing Brian Eno, Talking Heads, Nina Simone, Tom Waits and Laurie Anderson as musical influences, she differs from contemporary IDM musicians, and her aired intimate/active synth draws out an authentic canvas on which both activist as well as humorously ironic colours are painted. Indeed, even though from a completely different conceptual realm than someone who is enthusiastic about revolution, post-feminist networks and the importance of the Indymedia platform, the Viennese Fritz Ostermayer (Mego) is somewhat similar to Gustav. Jantschitsch herself admits that she finds his method of searching for fragments of songs rather than creating pop music compelling. A pop song – if it 'happens' – is merely the result of an incidence or a chance.
Radically individual, neither Eva Jantschitsch nor Gustav invariably triggers negotiations with connotations of the notion, the idea, and the image of ‘woman’ when she becomes an image on stage or in the media. It is an extremely schizophrenic position when Gustav is repeatedly thrown back to ‘being-object’ despite her intense ‘becoming-subject’.“As a woman on the stage I am merely a concept….”
Nina Spavatsky
Concert is organised in co-produciton wih the City of Women festival.
Selected by Petter Mattsson, Swedish Film Institute. The Swedish Film Institute film programme will be presented by Åsa Garnert.
Selected by Petter Mattsson, Swedish Film Institute. The Swedish Film Institute film programme will be presented by Åsa Garnert.
Founded in 1963, the Swedish Film Institute plays a leading role in Swedish cinema. Its aims include the promotion, support and development of film in its cultural and broader contexts, the allocation of grants for the production, distribution and public showing of Swedish films at home, and the promotion for Swedish cinema at international level. The Institute is also extensively involved in the preservation and promotion of Sweden's cinematic heritage.
Operations are regulated by an agreement between the Swedish government, which also appoints the Institute's Board of Governors, the film industry, Swedish television (SVT) and TV4. The Board appoints the Secretary General who is responsible for the day-to-day management of the Institute. The Board also appoints a consultation committee responsible for reviewing the Institute's practical application of the Film Agreement.
The current Film Agreement stipulates that the Film Institute's funds should be used for:
The Film Institute is financed largely by grants from the Swedish government, SVT and TV4, and from Sweden's cinema owners who contribute a levy of 10% of their gross ticket sales.
The Study of animation at the Royal College of Art began in 1963 within the Film and Television Course. Animation became a separate area of study in 0ctober 1985 under the direction of Professors Bob Godfrey and Dick Taylor. The first of these graduates were in 1987. The Animation Department is located within the School of Communication, and the Head of Department is Professor Joan Ashworth who has ran the course since 1994. The range of films shown is from 1983 - 2005.
The Royal College of Art is the world-s only wholly postgraduate university of art and design, specialising in teaching and research and offering the degrees of MA, MPhil and PhD across the disciplines of fine art, applied art, design, communications and humanities.
By reflecting on and engaging with contemporary practice, the Animation Department intends to move the medium into a new position in the art world and to find new audiences and new contexts. Animation has a special ability to straddle the commercial and the art world in a way that benefits both. From this position, it is possible to discern the needs and the possibilities of the future. They intend to build a research environment that is informed by, and useful to, both worlds.
The Animation Department is a vibrant environment which enables students to extend the study and practice of animation and to develop an individual voice. Narrative and non-narrative methods are encouraged and it is important to the department to select a range of approaches each year to encourage cross-pollination between different and challenging means of expression. Structure, pace and rhythm and the interplay between image and sound are key elements explored during the course. Additionally, character development, animation skill, directing actors, pace and timing remain important elements in the study of animation. Construction of images and the compositing of elements from many sources including live action, models, photos and textures is encouraged and supported, and there is the opportunity to combine new and traditional forms of animation to create exciting and original methods of image-making.
Creative-writing workshops develop and stimulate the students- creativity with the written word and extend their use of language as a creative tool. These writing skills help students towards successful funding applications after graduation. Story-boarding workshops are also offered to enable students to improve and reflect on the content and structure of the work. Creative approaches to editing are taught and are being developed through staff research.
Drawing is one of the core skills developed in the department and there are close links with the Drawing Studio. Specialist workshops have been devised to develop the skills of drawing movement and interpreting sound. Adapting an illustration style and refining lines and marks to find what is necessary to the communication of movement is an important issue for some animation artists, and the course offers an ideal opportunity to develop a personal style. It encourages students to be as creative and inventive with sound as they are with their visuals. There are opportunities to collaborate with sound designers and musicians outside the College particularly with students from the Royal College of Music and the National Film and Television School.
Research students are encouraged to question and reflect on their own practice and that of others at a deeper level. Through action research students can excavate the meaning behind their own images and sounds and those of others. This can result in finding new knowledge, developing new methods of working, and inventing ways of presenting and viewing animation. Animation Research students work alongside the Master-s students and share access to facilities and technical support. They also benefit from the support and stimulation of school- and college-wide research events.
The majority of the students- learning is done through individual practice and tutorials with both staff and students. As well as a series of short practical workshops in the first year, students create a short film or a series of experiments to research and develop a particular aspect of their work. Specialist visiting artists and film-makers offer a range of approaches and critiques of students- work. Representatives from the animation industry and from other departments are also invited to give feedback on students- projects during the two years.
Films produced within the department are regularly screened at festivals worldwide and exhibited in museums and galleries, and many are licensed to terrestrial and satellite television. Many have won prizes for artistic achievement and on two occasions recently a graduation film from the department has won the BAFTA (British Association of Film and Television Arts) for the Best Animated Short. These are Dog, directed by Susie Templeton 2002, and Fish Never Sleep, directed by Gaelle Denis, 2003. Graduates include Richard Kenworthy of Shynola, Philip Hunt of Studio AKA, Brian Wood, author of the Cramp Twins series, Alan Smith and Adam Foulkes, directors of the wonderful multi award-winning Honda clean diesel engine (Hate Something: Change Something) advert, amongst many others whose work is regularly seen on TV, in music videos, at festivals and in galleries.
Georges Schwizgebel, Switzerland/Canada, 2004, 35mm, 9’35’’
A man agrees to pact with a magician and swaps his shadow for riches. He soon discovers that the absence of a shadow can be a humiliating handicap. After fleeting to the four corners of the Earth he ends up in Bali, in a theater of shadow puppets.