Film and Almost Film 2001

13 november, 2001 - 19 december, 2001
Place
Sabatini Building, Auditorium
Stephen y Timothy Quay. In Absentia, 2000
Stephen y Timothy Quay. In Absentia, 2000

The works included in Film and Almost Film 2001 do not fall into the usual categories of film and television, but correspond to a new audiovisual discourse that emerged from the heated controversy between some of the most prestigious thinkers at the end of the 20th century, such as Gilles Deleuze and Paul Virilio, among others. While Deleuze saw film and television as sharing many things in common, for Virilio, this similarity did not exist. Whatever the case may be, it cannot be denied that the work of both visual artists and experimental directors reflects the influence of both media. Influenced by modern technology, these recent images fall within a contemporary aesthetic culture that, according to Susan Hayward, is structured around two modes: mainstream and oppositional. While the mainstream aesthetic relies on the four tightly interrelated concepts of simulation, prefabrication, intertextuality and bricolage, the oppositional mode - the framework for the films included in Film and Almost Film 2001 - experiments with these concepts and innovates through subverting their codes.

Instead of showing these works with their respective installations, the format in which many of them were presented in international exhibitions such as the biennials in Venice and Berlin, Film and Almost Film 2001 has chosen to project them directly. Although this format has a few disadvantages (from scheduling restrictions to the impossibility of showing some works because the artists will only allow them to be shown in conjunction with the installation), it does allow the public to more fully understand the importance of appreciating audiovisual works in their entirety, an alternative to the quick glance around a museum space that often forms part of touring an exhibition.