Alžběta Bačíková

In my following project I will explore possibilities of inclusive approach in the moving image production. My long-standing experimental practice with deconstruction of documentary media continues while group of people with hearing loss and vision disorder is invited to the process of inventing a new form of film. I intend to examine new strategies of work with sound and image to adapt the audiovisual medium to particular participants. During the summer 2018 I will develop a specific editing techniques with emphasis on “haptic” experience which should compensate absence of sound or image components and connect two separate parts of the audio-visual work. During the residence I would tend to work on post-production of the film, which I aim to present at the Jindřich Chalupecký Award finalists exhibition in October in Prague.

My stay in Vienna would also substantially contribute to my work as a programmer at the Etc. Gallery in Prague—its current project Politics of Truth: Documentary Video and Film Between the Artistic and Political Strategy focuses on the topic of documentary approaches in contemporary moving image production. Together with my colleague Anna Remešová we currently run research including not only Eastern European video art and experimental film but also contemporary moving image production in general. We curate a series of screenings of selected works, to take place at the gallery, and shape the discussion around its topics.
 

The residence at MQ in Vienna was an opportunity for me to develop a new audiovisual work titled Encounter. From November 2018 to January 2019, this new work is on display at the exhibition of Jindřich Chalupecký Award nominees at the National Gallery in Prague. In this project, I continue to experiment with the audiovisual medium and its conventions. The main question posed by this project is how an audiovisual work can adapt to a visually impaired protagonist and a participant with a hearing loss. I wanted to practically examine how can actors with different capabilities of perception transform the way the movie is made.

During my one-month stay I focused on developing a script based on the idea of meeting and relationship between two people, when one of them is Deaf and the other is blind. Although these characteristics seem to create barriers in their communication, the movie shows situations when they communicate, spend time together and do various activities – from watching cinema to dancing or driving a car. In several scenes, the plot of the script refers to historical origins of the sound film. These first moments, when sound and image were for the first time used synchronously, appear metaphorically in the artwork, which opposes this “audio–visual friendship” and is narrated separately in both sound and image.

The script, developed during my residence, exists in two versions – one for the audio and one for the video. The sequence of represented situations is the same but each protagonist is introduced and present more in the channel that can be perceived by him or her. The installation of the work is based on dividing the audio and the video – they’re installed in separate rooms.

The time I spent at the residence in Vienna allowed me to fully concentrate on the development of Encounter, which is now showcased at a major exhibition. Apart from working on the script, it also helped me to prepare the subsequent shooting and postproduction. As a curator of the etc. gallery in Prague I also had the opportunity to visit MUMOK’s collection and complete my research, based on which I carried out a curatorial project titled Politics of Truth IV: Re-enactment.