Rafał Koschany

In the lecture, the author will attempt to revise the theory of film reception. A reception which gives importance to the process of participation in the cinematographic show, to the space of such show (not necessarily the space in the cinema), and finally to »the film as a thing«: the light created by the projector, the film tape, VHS cassettes, DVDs, etc. The natural mental background will be formed here by the early film theories, by the cinephilia (treated as a phenomenon and as a concept) and by notions derived from psychoanalysis. It appears that many approaches – which until today have become mythical from the perspective of the history of the cinema and history of its theory – begin to revive in the contemporary film studies, where (instead of intellectual and trained interpretation) the viewer is treated as someone who only looks, touches, feels and experiences. The key philosophical context – which will allow us to see »the film as a thing« again from the perspective of the reception theory – consists of two classical concepts: »ding an sich« (»the thing-in-itself«) by Kant and »Die Philosphie des Als Ob« (»The Philosophy of 'As If'«) by Vaihinger.

Theoretical intuitions are proved by real film stories (we can actually say that the cinema, from the very beginning, also describes the way we watch films). Therefore, the speech will also refer to several Polish examples, interesting when compared to the world classics, which will be used as a sort of evidence for the universality in experiencing and considering »the film as a thing« (those examples will include: »Ucieczka z kina 'Wolność'« [Escape from the ‘Liberty’ Cinema] by Wojciech Marczewski and »Historia kina w Popielawach« [History of the Cinema in Popielawy] by Jan Jakub Kolski).

Rafał Koschany is currently working as an assistant professor in the Institute of Cultural Studies at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan. He graduated in Polish philology studies in 1999. In 2005 he completed his PhD thesis in the humanities. He specialises in the theory of interpretation, contemporary theories of the interpretation of works of art, the semiotics of culture and also researches of the borderland between literary and film studies. He is an author of the book »Przypadek. Kategoria artystyczna i egzystencjalna w literaturze i filmie« [Chance. Existential and artistic category in film and literature], Wrocław 2006, numerous articles in journals and chapters in books and co-editor of several collective publications (the latest one  is  »Musical. Poszerzanie pola gatunku« [The Musical. The widening of the genre’s field], Poznań 2013).