Symposium: Filmform ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF ARTIST’S MOVING IMAGES
Thursday 17 September 2020, 14:00 – 17:00
Dedicated to preservation, promotion and worldwide distribution of Swedish experimental film and video art. Filmform (est. 1950) is the oldest existing organization of its kind in Sweden and is often engaged as an advisor to museums, galleries, universities and festivals. Constantly expanding, the collection spans from 1924 to the present, including works by Sweden’s most prominent artists and filmmakers within the field of moving images.
Together in collaboration with Filmform, Index are pleased to host a symposium on the distribution of artists’ moving images on Thursday 17 September, as part of Index’ festival Leaking Container. Filmform plays a specific and important role in the preservation and distribution of artists’ films in Sweden and internationally, and their work enables many other cultural organisations, filmmakers and arts spaces to encounter this material. The symposium, together with AV-arkki, LIMA and Video Data Bank (VDB), strengthens networks around contemporary film and supports the preservation of these film archives for future audiences.
For Leaking Container, Filmform have also made it possible to delve into the Index Film Archive, which will be reinstated in Index Lounge as part of the festival program during 17–19 September in Index Lounge. Guests will be able to browse the archive, select films to watch and immerse themselves in the revived historical situation of Index Lounge – a previous format which originally existed at galleri Index at S:t Paulsgatan.
Symposium: on the distribution of artists’ moving images, September 17
This year, Filmform (est. 1950) celebrates the organization’s 70th anniversary with a symposium on the distribution of artists’ moving images. Filmform has invited representatives from AV-arkki, LIMA and Video Data Bank (VDB) which together with Filmform represent members of the DINAMO network (Distribution Network of Artists’ Moving Image Organizations) – an international coalition for distribution organizations supporting and promoting artist’s moving images. The network meets regularly to share new experiences and to discuss challenges with distribution, such as the growing threats faced by the cultural policies of the far-right, preservation issues, protection of immaterial rights and artists’ right to economic compensation.
Although part of the same network, these three organizations’ focus and work methods vary. By inviting these three sister organizations to participate in a joint symposium, Filmform wants to shed light on common grounds and at the same time, highlight AV-arkki, LIMA and VDB as particularly interesting examples of how distribution can be handled through different working methods. The talks will be centered around the distribution of artists’ moving images in general: a field where art and film overlap. Where different traditions clash or merge, with all the complications and possibilities that come out of this intersection.
Schedule:
14:00 Anna-Karin Larsson, director of Filmform
14.30 Hanna Maria Anttila, director of AV-arkki and Tytti Rantanen, programme coordinator, AV-arkki
15.00 Gaby Wijers, director of LIMA
15.30 Rachel Somers Miles, researcher at LIMA
16.00 Lauren Pirritano, media producer at VDB
16.30 General discussion
ABOUT: AV-arkki is a non-profit artists’ association. It was founded in 1989 and now has over 270 Finnish or Finland-based artists as its members and over 2000 moving image works in its online archive. AV-arkki’s main purpose is to distribute Finnish media art to festivals, events, museums and galleries within Finland and internationally.
https://www.av-arkki.fi/
ABOUT: LIMA is an international platform for sustainable access to media art. LIMA distributes, researches and preserves media art. LIMA offers distribution services to artists and digitization services to museums, collectors and artists, and has a fully functioning digital repository for the storage of digital art. Herein, a major part of the digital collection of the Netherlands is preserved for future presentation at LIMA.
www.li-ma.nl
ABOUT: Video Data Bank (VDB), Chicago
Founded at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) in 1976 at the inception of the media arts movement, Video Data Bank (VDB) is a leading resource in the United States for video by and about contemporary artists. The VDB’s collection has grown to include the work of more than 600 artists and 6,000 video art titles. VDB is dedicated to fostering awareness and scholarship of the history and contemporary practice of video and media art through its distribution, education, and preservation programs.
https://www.vdb.org/
The symposium is arranged in collaboration with Index – The Swedish Contemporary Art Foundation and IASPIS, The Swedish Arts Grants Committee´s International Programme for Visual and Applied Artists. Filmform is supported by the Ministry of Culture through the Arts Grants Committee and the Swedish Arts Council.
