Gusztáv Hámos and Katja Pratschke
New Ways of Thinking Film | Photofilm – Think Cinema
By photofilms we understand films that essentially consist of photographs. Photographs placed in a cinematic context create a filmic experience. In photofilms, the film medium is dissected into its components. Photofilm authors experiment with the relationship of text, sound and image, reflecting on the composition of the cinematographic. They let us »think« cinema.
If a film image stops, the illusion is shattered that same instant. Or to be more precise: The illusion of the movement is shattered in that moment and irritation arises. In order to clarify this unusual situation, our mind becomes active. As soon as the image stops in the film, it invites us to contemplate and we are pleased at 'seeing more': Interpreting the image as a concept, participating in the author's study of the images, and being inspired by the imaginary extension.
Photofilms demand active, thinking viewers. Photofilm authors reflect, discuss, involve the viewer in the process of perusal. If you have a photograph in front of you and place another one beside it, you automatically begin to search for a connection. There's a proper program that then begins to run in your brain in order to connect up this encounter. We automatically search for meaning, yearn for interpretation.
Inspired by Roland Barthes' »The Third Meaning« it may be said that the future of the filmic is not strictly in movement, but rather in a third meaning, a framework for the unfolding of permutations that make a new theory of the photogram conceivable.
Gusztáv Hámos, born 1955 in Budapest, lives in Berlin. He is a media artist, curator and author. He has held professorships and teaching assignments at the DFFB Berlin, UdK Berlin, HFF Potsdam-Babelsberg and Merzakademie Stuttgart. His artistic work includes video, film, photography and installations and has been exhibited at Documenta 8, La Biennale di Venezia, ZKM Karlsruhe, Ernst Múzeum Budapest and Ludwig Múzeum Budapest. His videos and films have been screened at the Tate Modern London, SFMOMA, Centre Georges Pompidou, Palais de Tokyo, Videobrasil Sao Paulo, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Salt Istanbul and Art Basel Miami, among others. His work is included in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, Centre Georges Pompidou, NBK Berlin, Múzeum Ludwig Budapest, C3 Budapest, Kunstsammlung NRW and ZKM Karlsruhe. His films and videos are distributed by Electronic Arts Intermix New York City and Arsenal Experimental Berlin.
Katja Pratschke, born 1967 in Frankfurt am Main, lives in Berlin. She studied film at the Lodz Film School, Poland, and media art at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne. She has teaching assignments at the UdK Berlin and Filmuniversität Babelsberg. Since 2006 she has organised photofilm seasons with Thomas Tode and Gusztáv Hámos, with whom she has collaborated since 1998. Her films and installations have been shown at the Tate Modern London, SFMOMA, Rencontres Internationales Paris/Berlin/Madrid, the 63rd Mostra Internazionale d’Arte Cinematografica di Venezia, Badischer Kunstverein Karlsruhe, Múzeum Ludwig Budapest and KHOJ New Delhi, among others. She has received various awards and grants, including the German Short Film Award, the travel grant from the Hessische Kulturstiftung and Artist-in-Residence grants in Venice and Istanbul.