Future Cinema
or how cinematic imaginary transforms film after the fact
The conditions of cinematographic art have undergone a profound change over the past years. The technological revolution has introduced new possibilities for camera and production techniques that also allow new modes of narration and image vocabulary. Although technological and creative diversity is not new in film, it is Hollywood that has begun to dictate not only the dominant forms of production and distribution, but also the narrative forms. Digital media technologies provide a new opportunity to question these forms. For this reason, the rise of videos, computer games and location-based entertainment industries is a phenomenon deserving attention.
“Rather than commercial or industrial production teams, the Future Cinema exhibition introduces individual works from artists who have found new modes of expression from the narrative content or questioned the global standards of film industries,” says Jeffrey Shaw, who together with Peter Weibel assembled the exhibition already displayed in ZKM Karlsruhe, Germany in autumn 2002.
FROM FILM TO MEDIA ART
The Future Cinema is an international contemporary art exhibition focusing on video, film and digital installations. The artworks shed light on the future cinematic modes of expression and techniques. The exhibition features film installations, multimedia and web-based artworks from the last ten years, presenting works from both young and internationally renowned artists, such as Eija-Liisa Ahtila’s installation The House, which has not been previously displayed in Finland.
“One could – and should – consider an extensive exhibition like the Future Cinema from two angles at least: how does the overall concept work and does one find meaningful individual works from within it?” says Perttu Rastas, the Curator of the forthcoming Kiasma exhibition.
“I consider the theme of the exhibition important. The film is central in moulding our visually centred way of life. It is quite natural that film is chosen as one point of departure in media art in particular. Many historical ‘tasks’ of the film have been transformed into media art or transferred through it to the ever-expanding, ‘not yet so commercialised’ fields of visual arts. We only have to think about the concept of the communal and political film or consider the media art a method for experiencing different visual narrative techniques.”
The artworks in the exhibition refer to familiar forms of film. For example, they study the opportunities provided by setting and film screen. The works are media installations that contain cinematic elements. These elements may be technological, such as different experiments in methods of producing images, or related to the contents, exploring new possibilities of cinematic narrative. The emphasis will be on installations which diverge from the conventional on the wall mounted and projected screen format; more immersive and technologically innovative environments are employed, such as multi-screen or panoramic, shared multi-user and on-line configurations.
“Cinematic experiences may not be the ultimate gain from them”, Perttu Rastas ponders. “Rather, the works simulate the future more on a theoretical level. Should one wish to explore the matter in more depth, and expand one’s cinematic horizons, Hollywood-style experiences is hardly what they get. Rather, the role of the audience as the interpreter of the works and protagonist in interaction will become emphasised. It is fascinating to see how a computer, spectator, public vote or coincidence – rather than a production machinery devouring millions – acts as an impulse for a narrative to begin. A comprehensive catalogue in English published by the MIT Press accompanying the exhibition provides more than food for thought. The message of the exhibition is that the narrative techniques of films evolve and develop in more than one direction.
