LOOP Symposium: redefining artist cinema

Artist cinema is not easily defined, and perhaps this is its greatest strength. It is a language that navigates between the cinema and the exhibition space, challenging labels and playing with conventions. At the Loop Symposium , held last week at the Almanac Hotel as part of the Loop Festival , this language took center stage in an intense program of debates and reflections on the collecting, production and presentation of this medium.

Curated by Filipa Ramos under the title 'Images that Move Us Forward', the symposium brought together a constellation of art professionals to explore how artist cinema propels us into the future. Thursday's session was particularly revealing, offering a space for reflection on recent changes in the forms of production and display, as well as on the crucial role of collections in this ecosystem.

On Thursday morning, participants tackled a central theme: how our ways of seeing and experiencing artist cinema have evolved. In the words of Sabel Gavaldon , moderator of the panel, "if at the beginning of the 21st century we were talking about the cinematographic turn in contemporary art, today we are witnessing a new metamorphosis: vision technologies, cultural consumption habits and exhibition formats are redefining what is cinema and how we perceive it".

Trobada Loop Symposium a l'Hotel Almanac (Barcelona).

The international curators present, such as Julian Ross (Eye Filmmuseum) and Lisa Long (Julia Stoschek Foundation), emphasized the need for an interdisciplinary approach, highlighting how artist cinema embraces a wide spectrum of formats and temporalities, turning -is in an ideal place to explore new dialogues between disciplines. "Works are no longer just seen, but lived in; they are spaces of experience", pointed out Gavaldon. One of the most intense discussions revolved around the collecting of moving images, addressing questions such as what it means to collect artist's film today and what challenges and responsibilities it entails. With experts such as Leonardo Bigazzi (Fondazione In Between Art Film) and Sinazo Chiya (Stevenson Gallery), the debate delved into the technical and conceptual specificities involved in collecting video works and installations.

Another outstanding point was the reflection on the visibility of artist cinema in commercial circuits. Works in motion often have a marginal presence in art fairs and galleries, which forces a rethinking of support and promotion mechanisms. "If we want artist cinema to flourish, we must guarantee it a central place in the cultural discourse, not only in collections, but also in institutions, festivals and markets", said Paolo Moretti (Fondazione Prada) .

The Loop Symposium was a meeting of ideas and at the same time a manifesto for the future. Throughout the day, the idea that artist cinema not only reflects our time, but shapes it, was reiterated. Curators, collectors and artists agreed that this unique medium has the power to imagine possible futures, to question established narratives and to open new paths for contemporary art.

Curtmetratge documental 'Cucli', Xavier Marrades (2016)