Visual Encounters - Day 2

Why do we say “I see” when we wish to express understanding? Do we understand that what we see is often an expression of someone’s perspective?

Evoking the qualities of presence and feeling we invite you to the second edition of “Visual Encounters”. A film screening created by Visual Anthropology students of the Masters program at the University of Amsterdam for 2023-2024. On the 3rd, 4th and 6th of November at the Ventilator cinema of OT301 we will show 21 graduate films.

As more and more visual information consumes our world and views, we ask questions that seek critical awareness and our collective capacity to express it. Our hope is that our films yield a space for discussion and learning.

SESSION 5 | A MATTER OF EXPERIMENT

17:00-18:30 (followed by a Q&A)

BLACK BOXES SHINING LIGHT: A POSSIBLE STORY OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

(Andreas Kleanthous, 2024, 41‘)

WIJKSCHEETS

(Anne Jasmijn Steneker, 2024, 41‘)

What do the Dappermarkt and AI-generated post-punk songs have in common? On the surface, very little. Yet the two films in this session both engage in experimental and collaborative mythologies. Wijkschets is a touching account of an ever-changing neighbourhood in Amsterdam. It engages with its participants by asking everyone to participate in a communal painting. the conversations that unfold are a beautiful homage to the Dappermakt and its inhabitants. Black Boxes Shining Light: A Possible Story of Artificial Intelligence is an equally collaborative film, albeit in very different ways. the filmmaker tries to strike up a conversation with ‘AI’, and critically questions what the term entails in the process. The film is a philosophical exploration that playfully highlights the absurdity of some of AI‘s responses to the filmmaker‘s existential questions.

SESSION 6 | THE CAMERA AS CATALYST

18:45 - 20:00 (followed by a Q&A)

MINDING SAND

(Laura van Erp, 2024, 34‘)

ONE SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCE PLEASE

(Josette Oegema, 2024, 37‘)

How do we construct arguments using a camera, and can we allow it to speak on its own? A key aspect of a degree in visual anthropology involves learning to conduct camera-based research, but what happens when the camera itself poses questions? How do we grapple with issues of aesthetics, of particularity? In this session, two filmmakers— both trained as photographers-will show you two different worlds. One Spiritual Experience Please is an essay film that tries to catch what we exactly mean when we speak of spirituality. The film explores personal and communal meanings attached to the mystical, and attempts to catch said mysticality using a camera. Meanwhile, the film Minding Sand attempts to show the complex ties and entanglements involved in both the making and unmaking of beaches, reminding us how ecological and social concerns are inextricably interwoven. It is an observational film that relies on the camera to build arguments.

SESSION 7 | WHAT REMAINS UN/SEEN

20:15 - 21:15 (followed by a Q&A)

PURE KLANKEN [PURE SOUNDS]

(Valerie Hoffmann, 2024, 30‘)

THIS QUIETNESS IS FAKE

(Melia Weltzien, 2024, 27‘)

What remains un/seen presents two powerful ethnographic films that delve into the intersections of taboo, stigma, and the invisible experiences of trauma through art and sound. How does the way in which people (don’t) talk about certain issues influence someones experience? This Quietness is Fake challenges the pervasive silence around sexual violence, using intimate artistic collaborations to break through the taboos that isolate survivors. In Pure Klanken (Pure Sounds), the filmmaker poetically explores the often unseen, in various degrees, struggles of living with OCD, using sound, movement, and art to capture the body‘s negotiation with societal stigma. Both films employ the camera as a tool for making the invisible visible, allowing audiences to confront the embodied realities of trauma, while highlighting the role of creative expression in reclaiming narrative and space.