Online Art Courses: Films and Museums: Four Encounters between the Language of Film and Art Venues

In this online course, we will explore the relationship between films and museums, revisiting some of the most remarkable moments of the dialogue between them.

Conducted by: Juan Zapater, cultural agent and author writing about art and film

Target audience: Adults
Type of course: Online
Structure: 4 modules, 16 video lessons, additional resources
Workload: 6 hours (at your own pace)
Language: Spanish
Certification: Upon completion of the course, participants will get a certificate

What will you learn in this course?

• The ways in which the language of film interacts with museums in a rich and complex dialogue.
• Examples of films and filmmakers focusing on this relationship.
• Simple tools to analyze films from various perspectives using different methods.
• The work of women filmmakers and the role they have played in the history of film.

Introduction

The earliest motion pictures date back to 1895. They were screened in fairs by precursors like George Méliès and the Lumière Brothers. Confined within the realm of popular culture, cinema rose to the form of art in the first decades of the twentieth century thanks to pioneering filmmakers such as D. W. Griffith. However, it would take a few more decades for films to make their way into museums. This would only happen after the emergence of digital media, in the later decades of the twentieth century. Before, their humble origins kept films within the sphere of low culture, unable to cross the line that separated entertainment from art.

Even though the avant-garde and surrealism explored the expressive possibilities of cinema in their creative experiences, and despite the existence of experimental film, the dominance of Hollywood and the American film industry kept films away from museums of contemporary and modern art for decades. Ironically enough, it was only when it went from celluloid to digital that cinema found its way to museum galleries and exhibitions.

Contents and Method

The course is divided into four modules, each module revolving round a key film.

Module I: Une visite au Louvre, by Danièle Huillet and Jean-Marie Straub (France, 2003).

Module II: Russian Ark, by Alexander Sokurov (Russia-Germany, 2002)

Module III: The Square, by Ruben Östlund (Sweden, 2017).

Module IV: Vertigo, by Alfred Hitchcock (United States, 1958).

Each module will consist of a discussion of the corresponding film in context, followed by an analysis of the connections between the film and the museum featured in it.

In the video lessons, other examples will be provided of film/museum matches, which will offer a wider view of the changes in narratives, uses, and creations in the history of film.

Each module will use a different combination of methods and media, including films, images, and texts.

Participants are encouraged to watch the films on their own before the course starts, if they have never watched them before.