Archive notice: This article was originally published on December 11, 2007. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
According to the organisers, the most important international documentary film conference is stopping in Bochum: From December 18 to 21, the Krupp Chair for the Theory and History of Visual Documentary Forms at Ruhr University (Prof. Dr. Vinzenz Hediger) invites participants to “Visible Evidence XIV”. The conference and the associated film screenings will take place at various locations in central Bochum, including the Schauspielhaus, the Haus der Geschichte and the Casablanca cinema. One thematic focus of the film programme is the post-industrial condition, which is addressed in films about the dismantling of industrial cities and industrial facilities in the Ruhr region and the USA. More than 80 speakers from Europe, the USA, Asia and South America are expected. All interested parties are warmly welcome to the conference and film programme.
The conference has three thematic focuses: documentary film and history, documentary film and documentary images in the (art) museum, and documentary film and science. A public plenary lecture takes place on each focus.
On December 18 at 4 p.m., Sylvie Lindeperg (Paris) will speak at the Haus der Geschichte (Clemensstr. 17-19, 44789 Bochum) about “Nuit et bruillard” by Alain Resnais from 1958, one of the earliest films about the Nazi extermination camps and, for many, one of the most important documentary films of all.
On December 20 at 5:30 p.m., performance artist Marina Abramovic (New York) will lecture at the Casablanca cinema (Kortumstraße 11, 44787 Bochum) on the reconstruction of performance art and the difficulties of documenting this ephemeral art form.
On December 21 at 5:30 p.m., Michael Renov (Los Angeles) will speak at the Haus der Geschichte about documentary film, science and teaching. The Schauspielhaus (Königsallee 15, 44789 Bochum) serves as the conference centre. Another conference venue is GLS Bank at Christstraße 9, 44789 Bochum, as well as the Casablanca cinema in the Bermuda Triangle, where some of the lectures and screenings of important new documentary films will take place.
“Visible Evidence” is an international network of artists, curators, filmmakers and scholars who engage with current questions of documentary film and themselves make important contributions to non-fiction media culture. Founded as a conference in 1993, “Visible Evidence” has since taken place every year in a different location, by now also every year on a different continent. Following Montreal in 2005 and Sao Paulo in 2006, “Visible Evidence XIV” in Bochum is the first German edition of the conference. More than 80 speakers, filmmakers and artists are expected in Bochum for an intensive four-day exchange on questions concerning the latest developments in the field of non-fiction visual media.
The organiser is the Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach Foundation Chair for the Theory and History of Visual Documentary Forms at the Institute for Media Studies at Ruhr University Bochum, in cooperation with the Haus des Dokumentarfilms, Stuttgart, and the dokumentarfilm initiative NRW, Mülheim. The event is supported by the Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach Foundation.
The conference programme and further information can be accessed on the web (see link below).
Further Links:
- Visible Evidence in Bochum
