Hyun Kang Kim: The Real in Film. The historical real, the optical real, and the material real - a podcast by ZKM | Zentrum für Kunst und Medien Karlsruhe

The Real of Reality | International Conference on Philosophy and Film

Wed, 02.11.2016 – Sun, 06.11.2016

ZKM_Media Theater, ZKM_Lecture Hall, ZKM_Media Lounge, ZKM_Cube

My presentation is based on the proposition that every film, whether documentary or feature film, is based on the mutual relationship between the found and the invented, the material and the fiction, the real and the symbolic. In addition, as opposed to the closed form of the feature film, the open form of the documentary film can make the interplay between the real and the symbolic, the recorded material and the narrative, more visible. Hence, the documentary film is not a reproduction of reality, but a creative approach to the real, which is directly connected to the everlasting search for the answer to the question: what is the real?

What, then, is the real? The real is not the objective fact of reality, but something that is always perceived by a distorted view. Thus, in the real, the distorted subjective view is always included. However, if one accepts that the documentary material is always framed by an interpretation and subjective perspective, this nevertheless means that the real is the construct of a perspectivism, because there is the actual existence and effect of the real. Nevertheless, this is always in a reciprocal relationship between the observer and the observed.

What is the real in film? In film, at least three kinds of „the real“ can be ascertained. They are the historical real, the optical real, and the material real. My presentation deals with these three kinds of the real based on the film theories of Benjamin, Moholy-Nagy, and Vertov.

International Conference on Philosophy and Film

Photography and film in particular paved the way for complex philosophical questions regarding the nature of reality and its mechanical reproduction. What does film reproduce and how can we grasp this element, which has the transactive ability to form reality although originating in reality? This shaping takes palce through a complex interaction of image, action and narration and tends to permeate reality completely. It is an inconspicuous process that already affects our everyday life profoundly and is based on a revolution of the real. What does film show? Do we have access to reality that is not based on images or narrations? And what can film and its analysis contribute to philosophical debates on the real?

These are questions we are asking to engage in a dialogue between philosophy and film. For five days, one hundred and fifty philosophers, media scholars and filmmakers will connect philosophical theory with cinematic practice and open up new ideas and concepts. To accompany the program, there will be film screenings of documentaries of the invited filmmakers.

The participation at the conference is also possible without the presentation of a paper.

The conference will be held in English.

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