Cinema and Aesthetics of Refusal - Einzelansicht

Dozentin: Thao Ho

In this course, we will investigate ways in which visual artists negotiate the tension between transparency and opacity artistically/aesthetically in relation to the “burden of representation.” We will explore notions of subjectivity, community, as well as ownership of (hi)stories, bodies, material and identity in the sphere of cinema and image. Films that we will engage with include Love is the Message, the Message is Death (2016) by Arthur Jafa, Wildness (2012) by Wu Tsang and The Atlantic is a Sea of Bones (2017) by Tourmaline. How do these works engage with the dominant image archives of contemporary society and surveillance culture that are embedded in a social and historical formula of affirmation and forgetting? In what ways do their works refuse the burden of representation and visualize alternative ways of sociability, collectivity and solidarity? Readings include academic papers, essays, poetry, film & digital media. We will meet every two weeks for an online discussion on zoom or common.garden. Everything else will happen on moodle.

Testat (short essay)