CAREOF/DOCVA - MILAN

17 - 26 SEPTEMBER 2009

Careof DOCVA in cooperation with INVIDEO and Digicult presents:

:::QUANDO L'OCCHIO TREMA. IL FLICKER TRA CINEMA, VIDEO E DIGITALE:::
When the eye flickers: the flicker technique in cinema, video and digital

Videoscreening curated by:
Mario Gorni (Careof DOCVA) and Claudia D'Alonzo (Digicult)

Inauguration on Thursday September 17, 2009 at 5:30pm
at DOCVA Documentation Center for Visual Arts, via Procaccini 4, Milan

with:
Claudia D'Alonzo, Elisa Gattarossa, Mario Gorni, Marco Mancuso, otolab

Videos on show from September 17 to September 26, 2009 from 3.00pm to 7.00pm

On Thursday September 17 at 5.30pm Careof DOCVA, presents "Quando l'occhio trema: il flicker tra cinema, video e digitale" (When the eye flickers: the flicker technique in cinema, video and digital), videoscreening curated by Claudia D'Alonzo and Mario Gorni, in cooperation with Invideo and Digicult. On occasion of the inauguration and open house meeting, Claudia D'Alonzo from the network Digicult; Elisa Gattarossa from Invideo; Mario Gorni, director of Careof DOCVA; Marco Mancuso, director of Digicult; otolab, Milanese collective of audiovisual experimentation will discuss the topic of "flicker".

Quando l'occhio trema (When the eye flickers) - based on the 1989 homonymous film by Paolo Gioli - a historical and methodological journey on the use of the flicker technique through a selection of ten works coming from the DOCVA and Invideo video archives, together with works by authors partaking in the Digicult international network.

The "flicker" technique is used in several forms of art, experimental motion picture cinema, light installation, analogical video and audiovisual digital video. Such technique is based on a specific perception phenomenon. Normally the perception of a moving image occurs at a frequency of 24 frames per second. If we diminish such frequency to 6/18 frames, we elicit a visual flickering that corresponds to a direct stimulation of the optic nerve, a proto-vision, where the visual rhythm directly synchronizes with our brainwaves.

The flicker phenomenon falls within a category that Edmund Husserl defines as perceptive ambiguity, because it enables us to transcend conventional knowledge to perceive and relate to reality through the new possibilities produced by a destabilization of our automated perception, which is, in this case, violent, at times even traumatic. The flicker technique allows both for a phenomenological investigation, the anomalous stimulation of our perceptive apparatus, and for a structural analysis of the codes of the moving image.

The show "Quando l'occhio trema", proposes a partial reconstruction of the historical journey of this artistic experimentation through historic cinema and video authors and digital video authors from the contemporary scene: Claudio Ambrosini, ape5+miky ry, Scott Arford, Alessandra Arno, Gerard Cairaschi, Paolo Chiasera, Antonin De Bemels, Thorsten Fleisch, Paolo Gioli, Graw & Bockler, Granular Synthesis (Kurt Hentschlager/Ulf Langheinrich), Girts Korps, otolab, Steina and Woody Vasulka.

Thanks to the cooperation between Archivio DOCVA, Archivio INVIDEO and Digicult, "Quando l'occhio trema" takes on the shape of a research, which aims to use the material from the archive as a dynamic tool that enables the connections and exchanges that are necessary to draw a comparison between the historical experience in audiovisual experimentation and the developments achieved by contemporary authors. Such comparison is vital both to retrieve, preserve and make the most of a significant historical heritage, that is the experimental audiovisual production, but also, and above all, to establish the scientific parameters that enable the interpretation and study of a heterogeneous and manifold artistic digital production.

The non-profit organization Careof has been promoting the Italian and international contemporary artistic research, granting great attention to the emerging generations. Over its 20 years of activity it has organized and hosted more than 200 personal and collective shows, taking foot as a very dynamic centre for artistic experimentation. Through the organization of workshops, seminars and conferences, Careof has given birth to an information circuit and to a platform for artists, critics, curators and the public. In cooperation with the association Viafarini, Careof organizes and manages the DOCVA Documentation Center for Visual Arts, a documentation centre for visual arts, currently one of the most advanced in Italy for the computerization and diffusion of contemporary art. The centre consists of: Library specializing in visual arts, Video Archive, Portfolio Archive, ArtBox databank.

Invideo - Internazionale di video e cinema oltre (International Exhibition of Video Art and Cinema Beyond)­- has been organized in Milan by A.I.A.C.E. since 1990. It is the only festival in Italy where the most important international works in the field of art video and research are presented every year. Invideo is also a permanent archive devoted to the artistic "non-fiction", which has been acquired through an in-depth and wide-reaching research and analysis among the most meaningful Italian and international works.
www.mostrainvideo.com

Digicult is a cultural and editorial project engaged in promoting and disseminating digital art and culture, the impact of science and new technologies on art, design and the contemporary society. The project Digicult was founded and is lead by Marco Mancuso. It is based on the active participation by more the 40 professionals, representing today’s first, far-reaching Network of journalists, curators, critics and artists in Italy.
www.digicult.it

Program:

_The Vasulkas - Noisefields
USA 1974
9' 54'', col.
Courtesy Archivio INVIDEO
www.vasulka.org

_Claudio Ambrosini - Light solfeggio
Italy 1977
2' 17'', b/w
Courtesy Archivio DOCVA

_Paolo Gioli - Quando l'occhio trema – When the eye flickers
Italy 1989
12', b/w
Courtesy Paolo Gioli
www.paologioli.it

_Kurt Hentschlager/Ulf Langheinrich (Granular Synthesis) - Form
Austria 2000
3', col.
Courtesy Granular Synthesis
www.granularsynthesis.info

_Thorsten Fleisch - Superbitmapping
Germany 2000
2' 3'', col.
Courtesy Thorsten Fleisch
www.fleischfilm.com

_Paolo Chiasera - 20mo Livello (20th Level)
Italy 2001
6', col.
Courtesy Archivio DOCVA
www.paolochiasera.org

_Gerard Cairaschi - Delice
France, 2002,
9'
Courtesy Archivio INVIDEO

_Graw & Bockler - Because
Germany 2002
3'47", col.
Courtesy Archivio DOCVA
www.grawboeckler.de

_Scott Arford - Untitled for television
USA 2003
5' 57'', col.
Courtesy Scott Arford
www.7hz.org

_Alessandra Arno - Stars
Italy 2003
4', b/n
Courtesy Archivio DOCVA
www.alessandraarno.com

_Girts Korps - Ho deciso di non fare piu l'arte (I have decided to give up art)
Italy 2003
3', col.
Courtesy Archivio DOCVA

_ape5+miky ry - Scarti (Throw-outs)
Italy 2005
10' 37'', col.
Courtesy ape5
www.ape5.it
www.myspace.com/mikyry

_Antonin De Bemels - Merge/Se Fondre
Belgium 2006
24'30'', col.
Courtesy Archivio INVIDEO
www.antonindb.be

_Otolab - Vagina cosmica (Cosmic Vagina)
Italy 2009
video: xo00
audio: _dies
4' 50'', col.
Courtesy Otolab
www.otolab.net