Masterclass Artistic Research 2022: Working with Waste

This hybrid programme consists of one to one mentorship, project work and a series of lectures, screenings and workshops. The mentors are a group of international artist filmmakers including guest professor in film and artistic research Lucy Beech and Turner Prize (UK) Nominee and artist filmmaker James Richards. 

Participants will be encouraged to apply with a research proposal / idea for an artistic project that activates waste materials or explores the meanings and potentials of waste in various sociocultural settings. Each individual will develop their research proposals into an audio visual project over the summer and gain feedback from mentors and working group participants on how their research innovations might develop within public contexts such as exhibitions, screenings, performances, seminars or publications.

Key themes: hybrid filmmaking, transdisciplinary and experimental research, waste politics, care, feminist science and technology studies, temporality, discard studies, hormone biopolitics, interdependence, queer studies, new materialisms.

What do we mean when we talk about waste? Bodily waste such as human and animal urine has long been a resource material for biomedical pharmaceuticals whilst practicalities like repair, adaptation or reuse of material culture have also been concerns of physical science throughout history. Industrial slaughterhouses have perfected ways to recycle all the biological materials of industrial animals including methane, bones and fecal matter for biodiesel, glue and cosmetics. Architecture too has turned it's attention in recent years to innovating materials that may otherwise be discarded. With these examples in mind participants are invited to explore expanded definitions of waste. Beyond conventional notions of trash; climate conscious tropes like sustainability and processes that extend the life of material resources; the working group will also explore the potential of discarded materials in the context of research. We will look to the work of researchers, artists, poets and filmmakers who are committed to acts of creative salvage; incorporating discarded material into their own published works. The working group revolves around questions such as - What kinds of creativity are involved in working with waste? How do we archive, improvise, share, and reactivate waste materials? What are the historical legacies of working with waste in the context of different disciplines and how do attitudes to waste shape infrastructures and norms?

Hosted by the Institute for Artistic Research at Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF and the Film University Summer School.