Filmexperimente

Swiss Film Experiments 1950–1988

Substructures like experimental or animation film are conspicuously absent from Swiss film historiography. “Swiss Film Experiments 1950-1988” (SFE) undertakes comprehensive research into the highly disparate source materials and interprets these through close analysis in order to provide the first history of Swiss experimental film and to reveal its close relations with the international scene. In addition to written sources, the project draws on the oral testimonies of contemporary witnesses. The project thus lays the foundation for a hitherto missing overall perspective on the history of Swiss experimental film.

Experimental filmmaking has always situated itself either close to or explicitly separate from the visual arts. “Swiss Film Experiments 1950–1988” therefore places the data gathered not only within film studies, but also within art history. Such a critical account of the history of these marginalized forms of cinema thus aims to provide a more accurate understanding of Swiss film and art history, and to facilitate their selective reappraisal.

Research findings will become available through book publications, an exhibition, various lectures and talks, and a DVD. The project team envisages an anthology of Swiss experimental film for the period under investigation; a collection of materials that makes available currently scattered and only partly written sources; an in-depth doctoral dissertation on one aspect of the prospective history; an exhibition featuring films and other artistic work by the participating film artists; and a DVD containing a representative selection of films. A video library at the participating research institutes will provide a comprehensive overviews.  

Project leaders

Dr. Fred Truniger, ZHdK, Institute for the Performing Arts and Film (ipf)

Dr. François Bovier, Université de Lausanne, Section cinéma Associates Thomas Schärer, ZHdKAdeena Mey (doctoral candidate at the Université de Lausanne)

Project partners

Université de Lausanne, Séction d‘histoire et esthétique du cinéma, Prof. Maria TortajadaHochschule Luzern, Design & Kunst, Prof. Gabriela Christen

Research partners

Cinémathèque Suisse, Lausanne, Lichtspiel Kinemathek, Bern, Migros Museum for Contemporary Art, ZurichMemoriav, Association for the Preservation of the Audiovisual Heritage of SwitzerlandMuseum of Fine Arts Bern, Dr. Kathleen BühlerReservoirfilm.ch, Zürich

Research network

Catherine Quéloz, Haut Ecole d‘Art et du Design (HEAD), Geneva

Christophe Bichon, Light Cone, Paris

Funding

Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF) / DORE

DurationAugust 2010 – July 2013