A still from Virtualities
remarkable political aim for the French philosopher Guy Debord, while nowadays artists seem to be attracted by found footage manipulation in order to explore deep psychological issues, whether the footage has a "private" source or not. What's the future of found-footage art in your opinion? What will be the influence of platform like vimeo and youtube? I’m of the opinion that found footage film, although already significantly explored, is a “genre” that will offer many more important works. The great variety of, easily accessible, available sources -thanks to platforms like vimeo or youtube as you suggest- is one important reason to expect this. Furthermore, working with found footage suits to the new media art practice. Digitized
material is modular and easily manipulated. There are numerous found footage videos on youtube, like personal, “handmade” video clips, for instance. And although I don’t think of youtube as the perfect platform for an artwork to be presented and appreciated, I have to admit that some of these videos are extremely inspiring and interesting. From this perspective, we can see found footage as the most widespread genre of experimental film work. Concerning recent developments, the fact that I personally am more interested in political or strucural/materialist approaches, doesn’t mean that I do not appreciate nowadays found footage films that explore deep psychological issues, human perceptions, or collective film memory. I think that both –and other- practices can co-exist and advance when engaged in a dialogue with each other.