Looking for the Unseen
Announcing the Winter 2018 UCLA Arts School-wide Course
How do we situate our sense of self, of work, of power, of memory, of relationality, of difference and of similarity, within the practice of seeing? Seeing is synonymous with being aware, realising, and recognising. The arts give us another way of seeing. This course will explore interdisciplinary collaboration between students in the School of the Arts and Architecture on the subject of “seeing” and will make use of multi-disciplinary creative practices to enhance students’ understanding by using ‘looking’ or ‘observation’ as a fully sensory and compassionate experience.
Film and tutorials will be presented relating to, and created within, a wide range of disciplines (architecture, dance, film, performance, cinema, photography, and visual art) followed by critical discussions, designed for students working in these and other related fields. Observational tasks will be set using drawing, writing, photography, and video. Study will be scaled to meet the experience and ambition of each student.
Instructor Bio: Margaret Williams’s respected and internationally successful work has always taken a new and original approach, with an individual creative vision at the heart of all her films. She is particularly known for her many award-winning dance and music-drama films but has also made documentaries in difficult locations: India, Israel, Jordan, South Africa, and the former East Berlin, and directed dance films in equally challenging and surprising environments including Brazil, Cuba, and Venezuela.
Her recent work includes the film of Maxine Peake’s ‘Hamlet’ at the Royal Exchange, Manchester, shot in the round with 8 cameras. The film was shown in cinemas across the UK and North America and was part of the British Council’s “World Shakespeare Festival”. Plus, the short film ‘Captiva’, made with long term collaborator Victoria Marks while on a Robert Rauschenberg Residency. Margaret is currently developing a documentary to accompany Scottish Opera’s new production of ‘Pagliacci’ working with the local community, which she’ll film in a ‘circus tent’ in Paisley, Scotland in July. Also, next year she will film Katie Mitchell’s new production of ‘Lessons in Love and Violence’, composed by George Benjamin, written by Martin Crimp and designed by Vicki Mortimer at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. It will be shown on BBC Television and live in cinemas across Europe.
Art&Arc 100: Looking For The Unseen is the sixth in a series of quarterly courses designed for students from across the School of the Arts and Architecture.
These courses offer the possibility for students from Architecture, Art, Design Media Arts, and World Arts and Cultures/Dance to create, think, and percolate ideas together.