Friday, August 31, 2012

Critics between Arts (international seminar of the Finnish Critics' Association)

Ateneum-sali, Ateneum the Finnish National Gallery, 31 August - 1 September, 2012

Topical issues of art criticism were discussed at the international seminar organized by SARV (Suomen Arvostelijoiden Liitto = The Finnish Critics' Association). I participated in the programme of the first day in which the cinema was included.

It was a pleasure to meet Ph. D. Ronald Bergan, regular contributor to The Guardian, former Vice-President of FIPRESCI (International Federation of Film Critics), and current president of Fedeora, a new federation of European and Mediterranean film critics, and author of many distinguished film books.

Ronald Bergan discussed cinema as the synthesis of all the arts and the meaning of the individual signature in a film.

I argued that a film critic can benefit from the study of all other arts and critics of all other arts can benefit from the study of the cinema. - My focus was on the digital transition which transforms all aspects of film production and distribution - also the art of seeing needs to be reinvented. - A hundred years ago film producers devoured prestigious classics of the past in literature, theatre, and opera in the Film d'Art phenomenon and its imitators, but simultaneously cinema itself was already a force of the future, radicalizing art, a source of inspiration for modernism in phenomena such as montage, collage, surreal juxtaposition, the dream mode, and the stream of consciousness. - Serious art criticism is more important then ever in the era of the deluge of information. I agree with Nicholas Carr (The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains): internet is good for surfing, but printed media is necessary for profound thought. - We need to fight for better conditions for professional art critics who deserve to be well paid for their expertise.

PROGRAM
Friday, August 31st 11.00 – 16.15
11.00 Opening words, president Elisabeth Nordgren, The Finnish Critics´ Association
David Mawby, speaker of the seminar
11.15 – 11.45 Ronald Bergan: "The Seventh Art" (film)
11.45 – 12.15 Antti Alanen: "Cinema between Arts" (film)
12.15 – 13.15 Lunch break
13.15 – 13.45 Mette-Marie Zacher Sørensen: "Where Are the Borders of Literature? On the Critique of Digital and Multimodal Genres" (literature)
13.45 – 14.15 Maaria Pääjärvi: "The Otherness of Experimental Poetry?" (literature)
14.15 – 14.45 Coffee
14.45 – 15.30 Fisun Güner: "Do Artists Make Better Art Critics Than Non-Artists?" (art)
15.30 – 16.15 General discussion on the topics of the day, chair Heikki Kastemaa

Saturday, September 1st 12.00 – 16.15
12.00 – 12.30 Jan Granlie (music)
12.30 – 13.00 Osmo Tapio Räihälä (music)
13.00 – 14.00 Lunch break
14.00 – 14.30 Donald Hutera (dance and theatre)
14.30 – 15.00 Pekko Koskinen (theatre and games)
15.00 – 15.20 Coffee
15.20 – 16.00 General discussion on the topics of the day, chair Elisabeth Nordgren
16.00 – 16.15 Final words, Elisabeth Nordgren

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