Week 1 “Periodizing Collectivism” by Blake Stimson and Greg Sholette from Collectivism After Modernism (University of Minnesota Press, 2007.)
Week 2 “We Get More Ambitious: An Interview with the Wu Ming Collective”
by Dawson, Coleman & Deseriis Social Text, Nov. 30, 2009.
Week 3 The Intelligence Work of Documentary by Jonathan Kahana
Additional Reading:
This is an article about the 1930s media collective The Film and Photo League
Here is another article that Carlos mentioned:
https://www.artsy.net/article/dazeddigital-the-photo-league-remembering-the-radical-ny
FOR WEEK 4 – Please take a look at this short excerpt from Bill Nichols’ Introduction to Documentary before you re-watch the Film & Photo League film (link on Links page)
Ariella Azoulay is an Israeli photo critic and curator who has developed a significant understanding of the way that photographs work in the public sphere, even when that sphere is divided unequally. This is chapter 2 of her 2008 book The Civil Contract of Photography. In it she argues that photos can become part of a larger social and political discussion of a potentially just and equal society. As you read this think about how media that we make can be part of such larger discussions.
Here are some thoughts and highlights as you read the Azoulay article:
READING (and viewing) FOR WEEK 6 (MARCH 11)
This week we’ll have as guest speaker Kelly Anderson, former chair of New Day Films, a feminist film collective that started in 1971. Check out their website http://www.newday.com for basic info. See also the article and video below.
A panel discussion with the founders of New Day Films: Julia Reichert, Jim Klein, Amalie Rothschild, and Liane Brandon.
The Spiral Group – This is a very short reading from Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power.
READING FOR WEEK 8 –
This is a very short section of Chris Robé’s history of activist media “Breaking the Spell.” It focuses on the rise of ACT-UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) and how it was part of a media ecology.
READING/VIEWING FOR WEEK 9 April 8
Abounaddara “A Collective of Anonymous Filmmakers”
The Arab Spring brought calls for democracy to many nations in the Middle East. In Syria, a dictatorship led by Bashar Al-Assad since 2000 basically refused any accommodation with popular desires for more democratic representation. The situation led to a civil war, made more complex by the rise of Isis which took over much of Eastern Syria. Russian assistance has allowed the Al-Assad government to take back most of the territory lost during the civil war, and today the country is a wreck.
During the Civil war, a group of filmmakers decided to create a weekly series of filmic portraits of Syrians trying to survive the war. The series was notable in that it offered non-judgemental stories about people who took both sides of the conflict.
Here is an interview with Abounaddara from Jason Fox (who will be speaking with the class this week:
https://vols.worldrecordsjournal.org/01/10
For an interview with one of the founders or spokespeople of Abounaddara that has a short history of the group, please see this interview:
Abounaddara made films weekly for several years. Many of them are available on Vimeo. I have made a random sample:
The Woman in Pants
The Stamp Man’s Last Stand
Children of Halfaya
https://www.facebook.com/abounaddarafilms/
READING FOR WEEK 10 | Black Audio Film Collective
Also mentioned was a book about the Black Audio Film Collective. I couldn’t find the book, but here is the reference: Eshun, Kodwo and Sagar, A.. 2007. The Ghosts of Songs: The Film Art of the Black Audio Film Collective. Liverpool University Press. ISBN 9781846310140 [Book]
And here is a link to a museum show that has some useful info:
Collective Production 