A Research Site Devoted to the Past and Future of Found Footage Film and Video


"The Literary and Artistic heritage of humanity should be used for partisan propaganda purposes." - Gil J. Wolman

“A lot of people who call themselves artists now are cultural critics who are using instruments other than just written language or spoken language to communicate their critical perspective.”
-Leslie Thornton

Friday, March 5, 2010

European Media Art Festival and Mark Boswell

This year "mash-up" is the theme of the European Media Art Festival in Osnabrück. If you happen to be in lower Saxony between April 21st and 25th you might drop by.

Also, drop into Mark Boswell's site Novakino for some beautiful and hallucinatory videos that are equal parts Vertov and Debord. More to come on these soon.

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

SCOPE Film Journal: Cultural Borrowings

My taxonomy of digital remixing and contemporary found footage practice on the Internet was just published by Nottingham University's Scope Online Film Journal. The entire issue is devoted to "Cultural Borrowings" and details some of the presentations of a conference I attended several years ago in the UK. Happy readings!

http://www.scope.nottingham.ac.uk/cultborr/chapter.php?id=8

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

York Appropriation Conference



On Friday March 19th, I'll be delivering a paper titled "Intermedial Strategies of Appropriation in Art and Found Footage Practices" at the York Art History Department's Appropriation conference. For more info, see the posters below.

(In)appropriation Festival in LA

*********CALL FOR ENTRIES!**** *****

CALL FOR ENTRIES:

Los Angeles Filmforum invites film and videomakers to take part in the 2010 FESTIVAL OF (IN)APPROPRIATION.

WHO: All film and videomakers
WHAT: Call for entries for the Festival of (In)appropriation
WHEN: Entries must be received by May 15, 2010.
WHERE: Send submissions to Jaimie Baron, 10480 National Blvd. #308, Los Angeles, CA 90034
PRESENTED BY: Los Angeles Filmforum

Santa suit in July? Brussel sprouts for breakfast? Cat in the bathtub? Fish on a bicycle? All of these things are possible, but they are just "not done." At least, in our view, not often enough! Of course, the notion of what is "appropriate" always depends on context Рthe right time and the right place. What is permissible in one context may not be so in another. Indeed, the "inappropriate" is all about what is in the "wrong" place and at the "wrong" time, which is exactly where we think it should be. Mash-up, machinima, remix, collage, compilation, found footage, d̩tournement Рthese terms all refer to films and videos that tear materials from one (con)text and place them in another, constantly questioning the limits of what is "appropriate. " At its best, this act of (in)appropriation may produce revelation that leads viewers to reconsider the relationship between past and present, here and there, truth and lie, intention and subversion.

With that idea in mind, Los Angeles Filmforum invites submissions for the 2010 Festival of (In)appropriation – our third festival! We are open to all works that appropriate film or video footage and repurpose it in "inappropriate" ways. We will consider both films and videos, including works that are made up entirely of found footage and those that only use small segments of appropriated material. We are especially interested in – but certainly not limited to – films that put history into question and films that explore the ways in which digital technologies are reconstructing our relationship to preexisting audiovisual materials. Particular consideration will be given to films that repurpose materials in an inventive way and to films that are under 20 minutes long. We will only accept work finished in 2008 or later.

The Festival of (In)appropriation will take place at in Fall 2010, specific date TBA.
Curated by Jaimie Baron and Madeleine Gallagher.

Guidelines:
• Submission deadline: May 15, 2010
• Please send all submissions in DVD format to: Jaimie Baron, 10480 National Blvd. #308, Los Angeles, CA 90034
• Submissions must be 20 minutes or less and must contain some form of "(in)appropriation. "
• Acceptable submission formats: DVD and VHS
• Acceptable exhibition formats: mini-DV, DV-Cam, 16mm film, 35mm film, DVD (but discouraged, since DVD is not a reliable projection medium).
• Please include: title, filmmaker, running time, a 30-word or less synopsis, and contact information (phone and email).
• No submission fee, but please send only good films!

Los Angeles Filmforum is the city's longest-running organization dedicated to weekly screenings of experimental film and video art, documentaries, and experimental animation.

For more information, please go to: http://www.lafilmforum.org/