Symposium
May 11, 2012, 4-8 pm 

Morgan Fisher’s oeuvre is rooted in the context of structural film, and some of his earliest works in fact constitute paradigmatic examples of that genre. Its primary concern was a reflection on the medium itself, its specific qualities and mode of functioning, a general description that leads to a series of questions: How may the filmic apparatus, its components, or the constraints imposed by the film industry ever be fully exposed in a way that would produce more than just “yet another piece of film”? How may the medium be engaged so as to “expand” it, revealing its limits and limitations from the inside, as it were? How do Fisher’s films operate with materials (found footage as well as pictures shot for the purpose) without lapsing into an aesthetic of composition? And finally, which precursors to a post-conceptual painterly and, more generally, image-producing practice may we discover in Fisher’s early filmic works? Questions such as these mark the point of departure for the two-day symposium Beyond the Frame: How and Why; extensive discussions of individual aspects of his filmic oeuvre will chart approaches to his later, “non-filmic” works and open up perspectives on other cultural artifacts as well.

Moderation: Christian Höller, art critic (Vienna)

Friday, May 11, 4–8 pm (German and English)

4 p.m.
Welcome
Sabine Folie, director and curator, Generali Foundation
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4:15 p.m.
Screening Room – Screening Time (German)
Rainer Bellenbaum, media scholar, writer, and film and art critic Berlin/Vienna
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5 p.m.
Positioning the Subject in Morgan Fisher’s Films (German)
Gabriele Jutz, film and media scholar, Vienna
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6 p.m.
„Yes, but…“: Morgan Fisher’s (Fate of) Alien Modes (English)
Constanze Ruhm, artist, filmmaker, and curator (Vienna/Berlin)
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6.45 p.m.
Form as a Mode of Experience (English)
Sabeth Buchmann art historian and art critic, Vienna/Berlin
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7:30 p.m.
Closing debate with Morgan Fisher and all participants

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