Text in Time-based Art

Semiotics has taught us to regard each film as a text. What, then, is the role of written text in film? This advanced production seminar explores the interplay of film’s desire to image language and language’s desire to produce images, not to mention the temporal constraints placed on reading when it is no longer a private, self-regulated activity. We will consider text as a purely visual character, the impact of subtitles, television’s gluttonous use of text, and film’s appropriation of literary forms. In addition to screenings and readings, students will create their own instantiations of written language in time-based art.