[-empyre-] aura, expanded cinema, hangovers

[bruno vianna]

Gabriel, thanks for the invitation. Hi Julian and Pall, it's good to
see you here.

Man, it's really hard to catch up with all this information. This is a
really inspiring thread. I don't know if I can add much to the
discussion, but I'll try to summon up impressions from the perspective
of my personal work. I'm not getting into augmented reality  for now,
since Julian covered it up pretty well. But I do have this project on
film that relates a lot to the original Fluss' quote that started the
discussion.

Ressaca (Hangover) is a narrative feature film built on a structure
similar to Cortazar's Hopscotch. However, it does not have any fixed
form: the selection and reordering of the "chapters" (built as film
sequences) only takes place in the movie theater, during the
screenings, and it is always done by the director in person (me). So
in every session, I pick up 60-70 from the 119 sequences, and this
selection proportionates a new storyline that can be completely or
subtly different from others - more info at ressaca.net

The motivation behind the project is much of what Fluss talks about.
The denial of the depth of projection is what makes cinema exist, and
the fundamental principals of the medium do not seem to be available
for creative operation. Yet when the invisible parts of the cinema are
occupied, "cinema shows itself expanded".

In the exposed interface proposed for the editing of the movie  - the
sprocket (www.geral.etc.br/engranaje) - there is a will to bring out
the inner workings of the cinema machine. The mystery of montage is
revealed, a profanity witnessed by the audience. The place where
cinema happens is put away from the screen (along the z axis), closer
to the dimensions lost in the process. Benjamin notes that the
mechanization of the medium reproduction in film causes a waste of the
aura. In this project, the aura is somewhat restored, by the unicity
of the performance (bringing in the risks of the theater performance)
and by the presence of the author, whose presence, in film, is usually
detached from the reception of the audience.

It's a new hybrid form: it doesn't fit in the cinema festivals (too
non-linear) nor in the contemporary art world (too narrative). Yet,
it's the most compelling experience for the audience I could
proportionate in my filmmaking career. The reception seems to be
enhanced by the risks. The mistakes I make trying to create a new
narrative end up creating unimagined meanings. Then my own reception
enters the scene as a new player, influenced by the reactions of the
public, feedbacking into the montage.

I could go on and on  - the whole narrative issue is actually my main
research interest in Ressaca -  but I want to take part in the other
discussions....

Best
Bruno

ps next presentations will be in sao paulo, late september, (for those
in brazil) and electrofringe, early october (for those in australia)