Su 18 Oct 09
IDFA Film
'Repetition' and 'Optical Vacuum'
The IDFA (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam) is the
world's biggest festival for film documentaries. At the request of the
IABR, the IDFA compiled a special series of film documentaries about
the city, which will be shown at the Biennale.
On October 18th: Repetition (2002, 78 min), by director Artur Zmijewski.
Repetition is a documentary about the
re-enactment of professor Zimbardo's Stanford Prison Experiment - a
famous psychological experiment studying human behaviour in prison
conditions.
Repetition is a documentary about the re-enactment of the Stanford
Prison Experiment - a famous psychological experiment studying human
behaviour in prison conditions, conducted in 1971 by Professor Philip
Zimbardo at Stanford University in California. In early 2005 the
artistic radical Artur Zmijewski took the risk of reconstructing
Professor Zimbardo's experiment in Warsaw. He tried to recreate
precisely the architecture of the simulated prison and its rules. Seven
"prisoners" and nine "guards" were selected in a procedure aimed at
eliminating mentally unstable candidates. They were offered $40 a day
for their role in the experiment. The rooms were equipped with one-way
mirrors, and the course of the experiment was filmed by five
man-operated cameras and several night vision-enabled industrial TV
cameras. In the process, Zmijewski pierces through societal masks and
travels to the heart of mankind, where it is still dark.
Title: Optical Vacuum (2008, 55 min)
Director: Artur Zmijewski
Optical Vacuum is a cinematographic essay about voyeurism, surveillance and the now voluntary urge to be watched.
Webcams have made it possible for the Internet "to have eyes",
reflecting society from a subjectless and anonymous perspective. Over
the past years, Dariusz Kowalski has downloaded surveillance sequences
from various public and semi-public locations which in fact were not
intended to be used. Work places, conference rooms or even laundromats
are the starting point for Optical Vacuum. These are images that were
not intended for private experience. The soundtrack consists of
personal, almost intimate diary-like commentary which also seems to be
not intended for the public. A film about voyeurism, surveillance and
voluntary self-exposure * three aspects of the internet that are
dependent on each other.
What & where
Location: The Hood, NAI
Date & time: October 18th, 12:00 noon
Reservations: www.nai.nl/register
Information: +31 10 4401342
entrance with day ticket/PP
