Academy of Avant-garde Film 2nd

elective courses
general courses

The student should be familiar with a wide range of issues

related to history and history of culture, social sciences.

She/He should have basic knowledge of film art - both feature

film and documentary film, contemporary art. The student

should recognize the basic genres of film art - recognize the

forms of expression belonging to film and audiovisual arts -

which traditionally belong to the cinema of fiction and cinema

of facts.

Classroom

Lecture classes combined with film screening, during which

students get acquainted with films of the main trends of the

film avant-garde, which formed the history of cinema, and

had a decisive influence on art history - from the 60s to the

90s, shaping the understanding of current artistic realizations

from both the field of cinema as well as contemporary art.

Classes deal comprehensively with the tradition of avant-

garde cinema and point out contemporary documentary film

productions, whose authors use the film language developed

on the basis of avant-garde, emphasizing the referral of these

film forms to social issues, forms of art circulation and

conditions related to its production.

The condition for participation in classes is to purchase a pass.

The cost of the pass is: PLN 100.

Classes begin on March 5th 2020

Contact: gabriela.sitek@gmail.com

Among the topics discussed during the classes is the canon of

world cinema history: works of the French director Chris

Marker (La jeteé 1962; Sans soleil 1982), the achievements of

the Austrian avant-garde, shown on the example of the works

of Peter Kubelka (including Mosaik im Vertrauen 1955;

Adebar 1957) and VALIE EXPORT (Adjunct Dislocations

1973). An important topic discussed during the classes will be

Letterist International, The Situationist International (La

société du spectacle by Guy Debords, 1973). The issue of film

menippea in the works Hollis Frampton (Hapax Legomena I:

Nostalgia 1971, Hapax Legomena III: Critical Mass 1971)

will be presented.

Participants will learn about the work of the Film Form

Workshop (1970-1977) established at the Lodz Film School,

the most important structural film formation in Central and

Eastern Europe. The works of artists Wojciech Bruszewski,

Zbigniew Rybczyński, Józef Robakowski, Paweł Kwiek, as

well as Kazimierz Bendkowski, Janusz Połom and Ryszard

Waśko will be shown in the context of the group's inspiration

with the Polish avant-garde – both film and artistic as well as

interest in everyday life.

Attention will be paid to the most important representatives of

British cinema of the 1980s. The series of classes will cover

the experimental period of Peter Greenaway's work (Intervals

1969; Windows 1974; Vertical Features Remake 1978) and its

impact on feature production and "post-films" of the period of

interest in the electronic of this director. The program

includes films by Derek Jarman (Caravaggio 1986), debuting

in the 70s, whose work developed fully in the 1980s and was

also realized in the 90s. Participants of the classes get to know

the works of Harun Farocki connected with the world art and

documentary film. The program introduces the issues of dance

fascination and the "choreographic" approach to film matter in

the works of Yvonne Rainer and its impact on the works of Su

Friedrich and Abigail Child. The works of these artists will be

shown in the context of the avant-garde tradition set by Maya

Deren.

We will also look at the works of Polish authors of

experimental cinema and video art of the 70s and 80s - incl.

Natalia LL, Ewa Partum, Jolanta Marcolla, Jadwiga Singer,

Iwona Lemke-Konart. An important issue will be

international video art and Polish achievements in this field of

the 70s, 80s and 90s, which will be approximated by the work

of Bill Viola (The Passing, 1991).

The history of the film avant-garde will be completed by

introducing the concept of Cinema-Art and cinematographic

turn in Polish contemporary art and related works by

Katarzyna Kozyra, Anna and Wilhelm Sasnal, Łukasz

Ronduda. During classes, the issue of common areas of

contemporary art and documentary cinema will be discussed.

Classes are aimed at increasing the awareness of the impact of

film avant-garde traditions on the forms of expression present

in the contemporary film, in particular in the documentary

film, building the competence to perceive contemporary art.

The series of the lectures and screenings is the second part of

the avant-garde film program, consisting of two semester

cycles that covers issues of the history of avant-garde film -

from the 1920s to the newest times.

Basic reading:

 A. Pitrus, Film awangardowy w latach 1960-1980 in

Kino epoki nowofalowej. Historia kina, vol. 3, ed. T.

Lubelski, I. Sowińska, R. Syska, Kracow 2015, pp.

659-685

 A. Pitrus, Film awangardowy i sztuka wideo końca XX

wieku in Kino końca wieku. Historia kina, vol 4, ed. T.

Lubelski, I. Sowińska, R. Syska, Kracow 2019, pp.

867-900

 Ł. Ronduda, Sztuka polska lat 70. Awangarda,

Warsaw 2009

 P. A. Sitney, Visionary Film: The American Avant-

Garde, 1943-2000, New York 2002

 M. Przylipiak, Poetyka kina dokumentalnego, Gdansk

2000

 A. Pitrus, Fundament pamięci – o „fotograficznej

powieści” Chrisa Markera, „Kwartalnik Filmowy”

2006, no. 54-55, pp. 231-236

 A. Pitrus, Su Friedrich: anektowanie przestrzeni in

Reżyserki kina. Tradycja i współczesność, ed. M.

Radkiewicz, Kracow 2005, pp. 11-20

 U. Tes, Maya Deren wśród artystek awangardowych:

Shirley Clarke i Yvonne Rainer in Reżyserki kina.

Tradycja i współczesność, ed. M. Radkiewicz, Kracow

2005, pp. 179-192

 B. Kosińska-Krippner, Awangarda austriacka. Peter

Kubelka, „Kwartalnik Filmowy” no. 70, 2010, pp. 59-

82

Recommended reading:

 Warsztat formy filmowej, ed. M. Kuźmicz, Ł.

Ronduda, Warsaw, Berlin 2017

 Sztuka w kinie dokumentalnym, ed. Paulina

Kwiatkowska, Matylda Szewczyk, Warsaw 2016

 M. Radkiewicz, „Władczynie spojrzenia”. Teoria

filmu a praktyka reżyserek i artystek, Kracow 2010

 Kino-Sztuka. Zwrot kinematograficzny w polskiej sztuce

współczesnej, ed. J. Majmurek, Ł. Ronduda, Warsaw 2015

 Wideo w sztukach wizualnych, ed. R. W.

Kluszczyński, T. Załuski, Lodz-Lublin 2018

- The student knows the most important artists and the most

outstanding works of contemporary avant-garde cinema and

its connection with a documentary film

 The student knows the most important trends, phenomena

and creators in the history of avant-garde cinema and its

relationship with the art of documentary film

 The student knows what social and historical issues

correspond to avant-garde films and using means developed

on the basis of avant-garde documentary films

 The student knows the historical and socio-cultural context

of contemporary documentary cinema and the most frequently

discussed issues in specific films

 The student knows, by means of which theoretical and

analytical tools, to examine avant-garde film - both its global

realizations and films made in Poland and referring to the

native context

 The student understands the functioning and meaning of

video and avant-garde films in various cultural contexts and is

able to use the analytical tools assimilated in the classes in

independent broadening of knowledge in the field of

contemporary art exhibited in Warsaw galleries

Skills:

 The student is able to analyze avant-garde films in terms of

the formal and aesthetic solutions used in them

 The student is able to independently analyze avant-garde

films and video art in a broader historical and social context

 The student can use avant-garde films in scientific work, eg

as a source for historical and sociological research

 The student can indicate the differences and similarities

between the language of avant-garde and feature cinema

Methods of assessing the student's work (participation in the

overall assessment of the student's work)

1. Continuous assessment: ongoing preparation for classes

and activity (30/100)

2. Final written test 50/100

The condition for passing the classes out of presence will be

passing the test regarding the presented films and topics

covered during the lectures.

3. Control of the presence of 20/100

A presence on more than half of the classes is required. Two

absences are allowed. In the case of each subsequent absence

the in class participant is required to write a review or essay

(on a previously agreed topic with the coordinator) about the

selected film, on which projection was the participant of the

class.

Volume: up to 3000 characters. Deadline for sending: the last

classes in the semester.