Angela Haardt

Aesthetic Changes in Short Film: The Work on the Image

The point I want to make is: You can write a history of short film as the endeavor to overcome the representational function of the photographic image. It began in the 50s, when 16mm cameras became affordable and many artists of various backgrounds started to research into the specifics of the medium and the qualities of the filmic image. There have been many different ways for those experiments and expressions, as i.e. the editing procedures of Jonas Mekas to hinder recognition of content and instead rather give the emotional energy of the lived experience or Bruce Baillie's work that highlightens transcendental beauty in moments of perception. Others worked by manipulating the image (double exposure, overlayering, reworking the images on the optical printer, paintings on the image etc.) to directly expose the emotional quality without needing the detour of narration.

This work on the image and its manipulation has been eased with the uprise of video (i.e. the works of Robert Cahen) and again furthered by the possibilities of digital technique. There is the long research of Zbigniew Rybczynski into the technical devices to get rid of the real world when constructing images as well as Bill Viola's presenting his works as canvases in upright format ("The Greeting"). This constant approach to problems and discussions in the fine arts finally resulted in recognition there, which is today seen in the abundance of the moving images (which is mainly short films) in galleries and fine art exhibitions. My talk will ponder on these developments. I will end by showing Walid Ra'ad's "The Dead Weight of a Quarrel Hangs" (1998, 18min) as an example for recontextualized images.

Angelas experience includes the following: curator of media art lecturer for short film at German Art Academies director of the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen (1990-1997) director of Duisburger Filmwoche (natioanal documentary film festival (1978-1981, 1984) programmer for the municipally funded cinema in Duisburg (1977-1984) co-founder of and curator for 'iff' (international forum of film avantgarde; 1973/4 in Munich) seminars, publications, jury member at national and international film festivals and at national funding boards