Principles of cinema and perception

SEPTEMBER 25 & 26 / 10AM - 2PM

The workshop will be focusing on the essential principles of cinematography and human perception, examining these from different perspectives. Touching both practically with direct playful hands on approach while simultaneously introducing various ways of thinking about the media, creative process and human thinking in wider context. Story of the light as a central element in human history. Act of projection as an articulation of light. How projectors works. How our vision works. Why strobing light is so fascinating and can even make you high. What is the relation between the instrument and it's user and how it affects everything, based on some provoking thoughts by Vilém Flusser. Are we a unique artists or just a copy monkeys? Looking at film from the perspective of media archeology. Evolution of media. A playful swing from McLuhans "medium is a message" to "medium is a massage". Dive into pre-cinematographic era, with the grandfather of film Jan Evangelista Purkyně, genious scinentist from 19th century, who was risking his own life in various experiments in the pursuit of understanding of how our vision works. All that in order to provide foundation and most of all the inspiration for everyones own creative work. All that said from the personal perspective of my own practice, which I'll be happy to share.

Jan KULKA (1985, Czechoslovakia) is a Prague-based experimental filmmaker. He studied classical animation at UTB Zlín and Film Editing at FAMU Prague. Kulka’s unique works explore the possibilities of analogue film in a contemporary context, discovering fundamental principles of the film medium, its phenomenology and the physiology of perception via live film performances with custom made projectors of his own design which he calls Archeoscopes.