Xenorama, Lorenz Potthast und Marcel Bückner: Genius Loci, Spatial Cinema and Site-Specific Narration - 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

The language of film was made for the cinema. When a film starts and the auditorium gets dark, we forget about the space around us and get into the reality of the film. Here, the montage is a fundamental technique to narrate a story. We jump from one place to the next and, in doing so, bridge the gap of unnecessary time. The auditorium is a place in which we can lose our customary perception of space and time.

But what happens if we relocate a film to a place where we are aware of our environment? What happens if we think about film as a site-specific narration and a form of augmented reality? When a movie is embedded in a spatial surrounding the montage becomes a disrupting element in an otherwise constant environment.

The spatial film requires a language that takes the environment and the three dimensional projection surface into account. The technology of “Projection Mapping” gives us the opportunity to work accurately and explicitly with spatial structures.

In our talk, we try to re-think common conceptions of film and focus on practical examples of cinematographic aspects outside their common spatial localization. We want to put the theoretical background of cinema into context with a philosophy of site-specific narrations. To illustrate the differences, we will discuss observations and examples from our practical experiences and projects.

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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