Expanded Cinema

Expanded Cinema is a term introduced by Gene Youngblood in 1960, which describes a cinema that develops and expands beyond consciousness. In this cinema, the film projection transforms and gives way to a sensory event, either through film screenings (in all its forms) or actions which propose the reinvention of the filmic device itself. Based on the concept of Expanded Cinema or Performing Cinema, the aim of this workshop is to provide different theories and intervention techniques through 16 mm and Super8 film projections.

The workshop will focus on the manipulation of the image and of the sound contained in the celluloid, thus allowing the participants to acquire closer knowledge not only about film but also about the appliances of projection, such as instruments for improvisation and cinematic action, based on light and its variants. The invention, creation and appropriation of sound and visual loops, operated with different craft tools, will be the working basis for improvisation with film projection or filmic action. In addition to the cinematographic film from various sources and properties, there will be an exploration of different lighting elements, such as strobe lights, flashlights and other alternative light/ darkness sources, as in an exercise of retracing the history of primitive cinema and shadow games. Various intervention techniques will be used in the projections, starting from image modification and distortion objects. Participants will also be provided with an introduction to optical sound through live interventions with modulators, distortive effects, pedals and sensors.

Luis Macias and Adriana Vila are a duo of artists and filmmakers dedicated to the research and experimentation of the materiality of film in its original argentic formats. Their work has developed in the last 5 years through artistic projects of Expanded cinema and filmic installations, with multiple projectors and luminic objects. Guided by the origins of cinematic experiences, their interests move into the instability of film as process/action. Where each experience, through improvisation but forced under structural intentions, is drawn into an ephemeral and phenomenological happening, with their direct physical intervention of the projectors and the film itself.