Soft Machines and the Cinematographic Imaginary, Nowe media i film - International conference within the confines of the 15th International Film Festival of the Art of Cinematography Plus Camerimage :: November 30, 2007, 12:00 – 6:00 pm :: The Grand Theatre Łódź.

Beginning in the last decades of the 20th century, the increasing expansion of multimedia has made the digital synthesis of image, interactivity, non-linearity and intermediality not only ephemeral practices of contemporary art, but also prevalent and established characteristics of popular culture. These are also expectations and demands towards a contemporary cinematic work resulting in the creative processes, models of production, distribution and perception of a film art gradually moving away from traditional forms.

Do the contemporary experiments with digital techniques have a chance to invariably permeate the tools of film creators? How does the Internet change the appearance of film distribution? What influence will the narrative structures of interactive computer games have on the classic cinematic storytelling? Which of the ever-increasing repertoire of possibilities and promises of the digital media are liable to transform cinema as profoundly as did the expansion of video in the 80s?

The conference, organized by Media Desk Poland in programmatic co-operation with WRO Art Center is an attempt to present the consequences and possibilities that interactivity, mobility and multi-platform availability, along with the technological progression of communication tools, can contribute to film production and distribution.

Gathering arguments of artists, established international experts and practitioners from such interrelated fields as the theory of games, telecommunication industry, media sciences, sociology and media art, the conference defines the phenomena currently changing the state of cinematography.

Participants:

Richard Bartle, the co-author of MUD, the first multiuser narrative game; University of Essex, UK
Jakub Brzęczkowski, specialist in TV/VoD technology implementation, Orange/France Telecom, PL/FR
Mirosław Filiciak, media theoretician, Warsaw School of Social Psychology, PL
Paweł Janicki, independent media artist, curator and producer, WRO Art Center, PL
Piotr Krajewski, expert in contemporary art and media culture, WRO Art Center, PL
Michael Lew, media artist and research engineer, LEV Studio, CH/UY
Dawid Marcinkowski, creator of interactive music videos and the net-based film Sufferrosa, PL
Henk van der Meulen, television producer, musician and composer, NPS/IMZ, NL
Tom Putzki, author and producer of computer games, phenomedia publishing Gmbh, D
Aleksander Tarkowski, sociologist, Warsaw University, Creative Commons, PL