Research

DEVICES

New Expanded Cinematic Arts devices will be developed throughout the duration of SPECTRAL. Every research project will be documented and shared on the FilmLabs.org WIKI.

360° projects by Crater-Lab

Starting from the idea of expanding light beyond the screen to break and expand the projection frame, Crater-Lab is planning to develop a modular and portable 360o dome screen and a 360o analogue hyper-lapse camera in order to produce customized images for that screen. The screen will be built with ecological materials collaboratively between Crater-lab members, Hangar residents, other collectives, technicians and engineers, using technologies like 3D printing, laser cutting, DIY electronics and open source technologies.

° Dis-centered screens : 360° dome
° Camera Robotics : 360° analogue hyperlapse camera

Read more on the 360° projects WIKI

State-of-the-Art 16mm Film Projector by LaborBerlin

LaborBerlin is aiming to engineer a state of the art 16mm film projector with multiple modern analogue and digital features, catering to the needs of contemporary film artists & performers, archivists and projectionists alike. Two members of LaborBerlin (Bernd Lützeler & Juan David Gonzales Monroy) will collaborate with experts and simultaneously set up a community-based online platform for exchange of open source knowledge and experience. The launch of a first prototype is projected for 2025.

Read more on the State-of-the-Art 16mm Film Projector WIKI

Wandering Sound and Images projects by Mire

To open up the possibilities of cinema, Mire explores the notion of “Wandering”: itinerancy, adaptation to multiple environments. The seminar take place in three stages and gather a high-flying team of artist-inventors, in order to develop mobile tools, designed to allow wandering and itinerancy (easy to transport and set up, as well as self-sufficiency in electricity).

° 16mm black and white developing laboratory
° Mobile tools for light and other projections
° Mobile tool for 16mm projection
° Portable multi-channel soundsystem

Read more on the Wandering Wiki

 DIY Contact Printer by Filmwerkplaats

Contact printing is one of the most essential parts in the moving image production chain of creating images to be used as the projection medium in E.C.A. projects. The original idea of a contact printer is to make positives from a negative (cine) image. Yet contact printing is capable of so much more than that. It can be an important tool for creative and extraordinary image compositing. But original industrial contact printers are rare and complex machines. Many artists in the field of E.C.A. struggle with the lack of such a device and are looking for technical solutions. This research aims at the development of various DIY solutions in order to encourage E.C.A. artists worldwide to build their own contact printing devices.

Read more on the DIY Contact Printer Wiki

IDEAS

On Expanded Cinema. Discussion at Process festival 2023

A discussion with artists working in expanded cinema on the specificities of their approaches to this embodied, ephemeral strand of experimental moving image practice. What happens when the cinema machine is used like an instrument, when disembodied, mechanical precision is reconfigured through chance and human intervention? How does expanded cinema challenge and reconfigure the cinematic dispositif? With participants of Process Expanded 2023 program: Guy Sherwin (UK), Lynn Loo (UK), Jan Kulka (CZ), Aurélie Percevault (FR), Ieva Balode (LV), Bernhard Rasinger (AT), Elena Pardo (MX) Moderated by Ulrich Ziemons

Watch the panel on Vimeo