Flicker & Flow - pre cinema in conversation

Investigating. Listening. Learning; These are the main goals of Flicker & Flow.

Pre-cinema is the starting point for reflections on the history of visual media, considering the technical, luminous and kinetic images that are able to transgress the senses. By starting conversations with researchers, professors and institutions, we intend to hear about the history of kinetic and optical devices, magic lantern, chronophotography, panorama, phantasmagoria and, why not, early cinema.

Traditionally, art history has been one of the main resources for the generation of ideas used in visual media production. However, in contemporary times, when the image became a socio-cultural phenomenon it’s complexity demands a wider and more accurate review. One emerging approach for the analysis of imagery along historical lines has been found in the field of media archeology, which pre cinema feeds from.

In Brazil, this area of writing and reflecting about visual media was developed by Arlindo Machado (1949/2020), who left a body of work in Portuguese, including his book Pre-cinemas & Post-cinemas, published in 1997.

Despite the controversies about the term “pre-cinema”, here it emerges as a landmark, aware that the discussion on terminology can, and I hope it will be, the subject of some of our conversations.