CONFERENCES
Foreword
As a good habit, participants to international conferences are requested to present a written paper. However, it is not always granted that these papers will become articles collected in the Proceedings of the Conferences: it can happen that the limit set for the articles by the editors forces to cut large portions of the papers; in some other cases, for various reasons, the Proceedings are not published, or they are published after a long time. Hence, some interesting research materials remain for long periods in a sort of limbo, unable to get the visibility they deserve.
Starting from these considerations, the editorial board of Comunicazioni Sociali on line decided to dedicate a special annual issue of the Journal to the publication of papers presented in various international conferences and schools during the previous year. “Conferences 2010” is the first of these issues.
The intervention of Luca Barra, Cecilia Penati and Massimo Scaglioni was presented at the INA Conference "Television. The Experimental Moment" (Paris, May 28th 2009). The paper outlines how, during the first year of Italian television, different social discourses mark the birth of a new kind of spectatorship. The analysis of documents, articles and TV programs reconstructs the “re-mediation” of theatre and film audiences into TV viewers.
The figure of the monster in the film history is at the heart of Camilla Maccaferri’s paper, which arises from a research project presented at some Institutions. The monster as an “Other” capable of embodying the concerns of society is analysed by Maccaferri, with particular attention to some episodes and figures only marginally known or studied insofar.
Adriano D'Aloia’s paper was presented at the International Film Studies Conference "Emergent Encounters in Film Theory. Intersections Between Psychoanalysis and Philosophy”, held at King's College London on March 21st, 2009. The paper is part of a larger work: D’Aloia is trying to map the different forms of “empathizing” human bodies showed by cinematic images. In this case, he focuses on the “water-embodiment” process (or enwaterment), and analyses both the substance of water and the figures of the drowning and immersed body.
The next four papers were all presented at the International Spring School "Contemporary Visual Arts, Cinema & V. - Audiovisual Geographies” (University of Udine - Gorizia, March 20th 2010).
Miriam de Rosa analyses the installation “Hall of Fragments” by David Rockwell. The focus of her interest is the question of a possible re-definition of cinema within the current post-media condition.
Glenda Franchin analyses the installation “Over Time. The W. Project”, by Péter Forgács. The artist collects and uses the photographic and filmic archive of the Austrian doctor J. Wastl, devoted to the physiognomy of the stranger. Franchin focuses her interest on the different positions of vision offered by the installation in front of thousands of human faces there exposed.
Mauro Buzzi argues, by analysing the recent series “Datamatics” by Ryoji Ikeda, that the encoding mechanisms work today as a great metaphor of media as devices used for controlling the world.
Cristina Tosatto argues that the complexity of image in contemporary cinema is a visual metaphor of the “deterritorialization” of cinematic devices and of the new relationships between human body, technologies and territories. From this point of view, Tosatto analyses two chapters taken from the adventures of Jason Bourne, created by Robert Ludlum: “The Bourne Identity” by Doug Liman and “The Bourne Ultimatum” by Paul Greengrass.
Giovanni Caruso and Mauro Salvador presented their papers at the conference "Under the Mask: Perspectives on the Gamer" (University of Bedfordshire, Luton, June 2009). The two scholars analyse the video game “LittleBigPlanet” in comparison with the film of Michel Gondry “Be Kind Rewind”; their purpose is to identify rhetorical and narratives forms that allow and guide the emergence of the author-player, a new figure of “prosumer” that the authors call “produsers”.
The editors and authors wish to thank all the many institutions that have granted the permission to publish, in an expanded or different version, these contributions, that will be also published in the form of Proceedings.
Starting from these considerations, the editorial board of Comunicazioni Sociali on line decided to dedicate a special annual issue of the Journal to the publication of papers presented in various international conferences and schools during the previous year. “Conferences 2010” is the first of these issues.
The intervention of Luca Barra, Cecilia Penati and Massimo Scaglioni was presented at the INA Conference "Television. The Experimental Moment" (Paris, May 28th 2009). The paper outlines how, during the first year of Italian television, different social discourses mark the birth of a new kind of spectatorship. The analysis of documents, articles and TV programs reconstructs the “re-mediation” of theatre and film audiences into TV viewers.
The figure of the monster in the film history is at the heart of Camilla Maccaferri’s paper, which arises from a research project presented at some Institutions. The monster as an “Other” capable of embodying the concerns of society is analysed by Maccaferri, with particular attention to some episodes and figures only marginally known or studied insofar.
Adriano D'Aloia’s paper was presented at the International Film Studies Conference "Emergent Encounters in Film Theory. Intersections Between Psychoanalysis and Philosophy”, held at King's College London on March 21st, 2009. The paper is part of a larger work: D’Aloia is trying to map the different forms of “empathizing” human bodies showed by cinematic images. In this case, he focuses on the “water-embodiment” process (or enwaterment), and analyses both the substance of water and the figures of the drowning and immersed body.
The next four papers were all presented at the International Spring School "Contemporary Visual Arts, Cinema & V. - Audiovisual Geographies” (University of Udine - Gorizia, March 20th 2010).
Miriam de Rosa analyses the installation “Hall of Fragments” by David Rockwell. The focus of her interest is the question of a possible re-definition of cinema within the current post-media condition.
Glenda Franchin analyses the installation “Over Time. The W. Project”, by Péter Forgács. The artist collects and uses the photographic and filmic archive of the Austrian doctor J. Wastl, devoted to the physiognomy of the stranger. Franchin focuses her interest on the different positions of vision offered by the installation in front of thousands of human faces there exposed.
Mauro Buzzi argues, by analysing the recent series “Datamatics” by Ryoji Ikeda, that the encoding mechanisms work today as a great metaphor of media as devices used for controlling the world.
Cristina Tosatto argues that the complexity of image in contemporary cinema is a visual metaphor of the “deterritorialization” of cinematic devices and of the new relationships between human body, technologies and territories. From this point of view, Tosatto analyses two chapters taken from the adventures of Jason Bourne, created by Robert Ludlum: “The Bourne Identity” by Doug Liman and “The Bourne Ultimatum” by Paul Greengrass.
Giovanni Caruso and Mauro Salvador presented their papers at the conference "Under the Mask: Perspectives on the Gamer" (University of Bedfordshire, Luton, June 2009). The two scholars analyse the video game “LittleBigPlanet” in comparison with the film of Michel Gondry “Be Kind Rewind”; their purpose is to identify rhetorical and narratives forms that allow and guide the emergence of the author-player, a new figure of “prosumer” that the authors call “produsers”.
The editors and authors wish to thank all the many institutions that have granted the permission to publish, in an expanded or different version, these contributions, that will be also published in the form of Proceedings.
