The main aim of the Besides the Screen Network is to reconfigure the field of screen studies by refocusing it on those objects, processes and practices that exist besides the screen. Thus, the area of enquiry is broad and aims to bring together questions regarding institutional processes of distribution, marketing and exhibition within enquiries into practices of projection, archiving and curating with new methods of research such as media archaeology. Thus, the aim is to open film and screen studies up to new methods and objects, as well as intensifying the dialogue with other disciplines and practices. In doing so, the Besides the Screen network attempts to understand the continuing transformation of audiovisual media practices. Through workshops, symposia and conference sessions the network will forge links between academics, artists and professionals to refocus film and screen studies on those objects and practices that exist besides the Screen
The project aims to explore the shifting practices and cultures of different forms and events of cinema that exist beside and between screens. In particular it intends to break and reframe the traditional understanding of cinema as collective experience and its institutionalized framework of distributing, displaying and working with images that move. In a constant ever-changing field of audiovisual practices, the network aims to create a new area of research that expands upon and sheds light on processes largely ignored from traditional film and screen studies. The project intends to explore new threads of connections, debate and collaborations within a network of participants, such as students, academics, artists, media labs, and cultural institutions.
The project is co-ordinated by Virginia Crisp (King’s College London) and Gabriel Menotti (UFES, Brazil). It has been supported by the AHRC-UK, Capes, CNPq, and FAPES.
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A conferência Besides the Screen começou em Londres em 2010, organizada por candidatos do programa de doutorado em Media & Communications do Goldsmiths College. O evento surgiu com o objetivo de reunir projetos de investigação dedicados a um assunto aparentemente secundário no campo de estudos do cinema: as suas instâncias de distribuição e consumo.
Já na época, parecia importante fomentar o debate acerca desses tópicos, considerando que alguns dos efeitos mais significativos causados pelas redes de computação nos meios audiovisuais estavam ligados não à produção da imagem, mas sim à emergência de novas dinâmicas de circulação – das trocas peer-to-peer aos dispositivos móveis, do VJing ao video-on-demand.
No rastro desse deslocamento temático, o que também aparece é uma transformação nos modos de compreender o meio, menos atrelados à tradicional abordagem do filme como texto e mais atentos aos pretextos, paratextos e contextos que o constituem como tal. Recusando a sedução fácil da imagem, uma perspectiva à parte das telas nos permite vislumbrar certas dimensões materiais, econômicas e sociopolíticas que ela normalmente ofusca. Com isso, obtemos renovado acesso a questões ambientais e ontológicas cada vez mais prementes.
Network Committee
Gabriel Menotti (Co-chair) (Queen’s University, Canada)
Virginia Crisp (Co-chair) (King’s College, London, UK)
Sarah Atkinson (King’s College, London, UK)
Ana Carvalho (ISMAI, Portugal)
Sarah Cook (Glasgow University, UK) – Website
Amanda Egbe (University of Bedfordshire, UK) – Website
Claudy op den Kamp (Bournemouth University, UK)
Stephanie Janes (King’s College, London, UK)
Cornelia Lund (Fluctuating Images, Germany) – Website
Célia Sousa Vieira (ISMAI, Portugal)
Gavin Singleton (Designer)