New vernaculars and feminine ecriture; twenty-first century avant-garde film

This practice-based research project explores the parameters of – and aims to construct – a new film language for a feminine écriture within a twenty first century avant-garde practice. My two films, Radio and The New World, together with my contextualising thesis, ask how new vernaculars might construct subjectivity in the contemporary moment. Both films draw on classical and independent cinema to revisit the remix in a feminist context. Using appropriated and live-action footage the five short films that comprise Radio are collaged and subjective, representing an imagined world of short, chaptered ‘songs’ inside a radio set. The New World also uses both live-action and found footage to inscribe a feminist transnational world, in which the narrative is continuous and its trajectory bridges, rather than juxtaposes, the stories it tells. Both the films and the contextualising written text flag the possibility of new approaches at the intersections between cinema, poetry, feminism and critical theory. Drawing on the work of a number of filmmakers, feminists, writers and poets - including Abigail Child, Scott MacDonald, Betzy Bromberg, Christopher MacLaine, Chris Kraus, Eileen Myles and others - I describe the possibilities of cross-pollination of media and approaches. Through interrogating the methodologies of feminist, independent, mainstream & experimental films, their use of protagonists, montage, mise en scene and soundtrack, I argue that my two films have developed new vernaculars, which offer the potential to constitute a new feminine écriture through a knowing revival of cinema as a form of exploratory language. In addition to the constituting force of the films themselves, questions of identity and the current and potential future of film are interrogated via the writings of such cultural theorists, philosophers and artists such as Svetlana Boym, Lauren Berlant, and Christian Marclay

Unplugged

Works were selected for this video screening to explore cross-cultural and / or environmental concerns, described by the organisers as "A consideration of 'symbiosis with nature' within contemporary art". Tadashi Kawamata’s The Watchtower, located in the grounds of the Museum, was used as the backdrop to the screening. During my piece, the surrounding crickets became the dominant sound and the audience gradually re-directed their gaze towards the full moon. The ‘silence’ lasted a minute, in concordance with Japanese tradition at times of mourning and / or remembrance. This work references John Cage’s 4minutes 33seconds. It is both a critical response to the premise of the video screening as outlined above, as well as a means of further exploring ideas of dependency in relation to ecological / sustainable ideals, i.e. this work (as an example of an ecologically sustainable art practice) could only exist, as such, because of the comparatively un-ecological, 'techno-rich' work of the other artists in this context

Migration and Culture in London’s East End: 1800 to the Present

Abstract: This podcast records the proceedings of the town-style meeting Migration and Culture in London's East End, 1800 to the Present, which was organised by Cathy S. Gelbin and Sander L. Gilman at Rich Mix Arts Centre in January 2014. The event explored the complex stories of migration to London’s East End from the 1800s to the present. It focused on the social perception of these newcomers by both established members of their perceived community, as well as their responses to stigma and their creation of the cosmopolitan setting that is today’s East End. The event, which formed part of Gelbin and Gilman's AHRC-funded project Cosmopolitanism and the Jews, brought into dialogue lay audiences with practitioners in academe, education and the arts. Contents: PROGRAMME Dr Cathy S. Gelbin (Manchester), Introduction Prof. Sander L. Gilman (Emory), Migration and Culture in the East End — Why the East End? Rachel Lichtenstein, Writer and artist (London), The Dutch Jewish community of Sandys Row Synagogue Munsur Ali, Producer, writer and director (London), Mass Migration: A Cause by the End Days of the Empire Jane Earl, Director, Rich Mix Director (London), Building a Multi-Cultural Arts Audience in the East End Ruth Novaczek, Artist and filmmaker (London), Rootless Cosmopolitan

Salon for a speculative future

The Salon for a Speculative Future was inaugurated in March 2019 in celebration of Women’s History Month, as a platform for cross-generational and cross-disciplinary exchange. Reflecting on the current political and economic global situation, in particular the exponential acceleration of a technology-driven platform capitalism, many women advocate positive change for an ecologically sustainable and humane future. In The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. Le Guin argues that science fiction does not simply extrapolate from the present to predict the future—instead, the fiction writer engages in thought-experiments where ideas and intuition move within the confines set by the experiment. This book hosts imaginative thinking by seventy-five women artists, sharing their influences, inspired by women’s contributions to diverse fields, from art, education, and science to political activism. Salon for a Speculative Future honours and shares insights and experimental thinking towards a positive future