Early Cinema and the Avantgarde. Films and Symposion

In one of the most startling and exciting developments in current film theory, late justice has now been done to early cinema: It has been recognized as a form of cinematography that is not merely a primitive precursor to the "real" film, the feature film, but rather forms a phase within which the creative possibilities of film were used in the most diverse ways and these were also made visible to the audience. This "exhibitionist urge earned it the name "cinema of attractions".
Simultaneously with the re-evaluation of the "Cinema of Attractions", numerous parallels between early cinema and the avant-garde were discovered. First, there is the fundamental tendency of avant-garde and experimental film to emphasize the peculiarities of the medium. At the same time, a conspicuous number of filmmakers have always been intensively engaged with early cinema, creating their own works from footage of the pioneers, or by committing themselves to an aesthetic that seems to be directly linked to turn-of-the-century cinema.

If we look back today, we can see a decisive turning point around 1907, 1908: At that time, the design of films began to develop in a direction that sought to make greater use of the illusionistic potential of cinematography. The exhibitionistic demonstration was replaced by the voyeuristic setting of the feature film. Soon, the formerly multiformly populated realms of early cinema appeared to have been cleansed of all its flora; an end seemed to have been put to the cheerful wild growth.
But only a short time later, visual artists took hold of cinematography. Once again, they set out to further develop its creative possibilities beyond industrial norms. The fairground became the underground, and here the avant-garde wrote its parallel history of film as a medium of fine art. The presentation of films and Symposion are dedicated to this history and its kinship ties to the cinema of the early days.

Program overview
Early Film and Modern Life: The City, the Machine and the Human Body (to the lecture of Tom Gunning)
Lumière, der Zug und die Avantgarde (to the lecture of Christa Blümlinger)
Looking Back, Looking Forward: North American Avant-Garde Film Since the Eighties (to the lecture of William C. Wees) Speed and Cities (to the lecture of Chris Horak)
,,.. strangely haunting and beautiful" (zum Vortrag von Karola Gramann und Heide Schlüpmann)
Screen Words: Early Film and Avant-Garde Film in the House of the Word (Program 1 to the lecture of Bart Testa)
Rebellische Clowns oder der Ausbruch des Körpers (to the lecture of Claudia Preschl)
Vaudeville & Comedies Die Lust am Material Hollis Frampton (Program 2 to the lecture of Bart Testa)
Die Blickmaschine Vom Pol zum Äquator (to the lecture of Christa Blümlinger) Méliès & Co.

Referents of the Symposion
Christa Blümlinger
Karola Gramann
Tom Gunning
Chris Horak
Joachim Paech
Claudia Preschl
Heide Schlüpmann
Bart Testa
William C. Wees

Program and more information see downloads