How are artists in dialogue with academics? Short film screenings and discussion
Join us for the screening of two short experimental films, both of which, in different ways, explore some of the same questions. Methodologically, both films consider how artists might be in dialogue with academic researchers, whilst empirically, each engages with social media and phone-based technologies as both a tool and a subject of filmmaking. The film screenings will be accompanied by a panel discussion between the interdisciplinary visual artists who have created each film and the sociologists that they have been in ongoing dialogue with during the films' creations.
This event is the third of the term run by the Seeing Sociology Research Cluster. It will take place in the Board Room, Dept of Sociology, from 1-2.30pn on June 24th.
About the films and the panel:
'The Anthill’ is an experimental short documentary, made by Joanna Mamede. Set against the backdrop of modernist Brasília, it captures the rise of Indigenous leaders in politics as a powerful act of resistance, while blending Indigenous video activism with high and low-resolution imagery. Mamede, a Brazilian artist and filmmaker whose work explores notions of difference, language, and identity by using symbolism, motifs and text based art, will discuss her work with Tom Kissock-Mamede, a 4th year PhD student in the Sociology Department who conducts research into how indigenous climate activists in Brazil use live streaming as a tool for human rights advocacy.
Frenemy (My Algorithm and Me) is a film created by Josh Wirz that explores the complexity of algorithmic personification. Wirz, an interdisciplinary artist who creates work that deals with the politics of social media content algorithms, vulnerability, and the creative potential of 'going live' online will discuss the film with Dr Isabelle Higgins, Teaching Associate in Media, Culture and Sociological Theory, whose research interests include how algorithmic technologies on social media relate to everyday, embodied forms of power and inequality. Wirz and Higgins have been collaborating since 2023 to explore 'the algorithm', and this work-in-progress film is part of their ongoing collaboration.