Tremor, Tick, and Trance: Siegfried Kracauer and Gregory Bateson in the Film Library of the Museum of Modern Art

2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 141-172
Author(s):  
Frederic Ponten
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Intellectual History ◽  
Modern Art ◽  
Formative Period ◽  
Museum Of Modern Art ◽  
German Studies ◽  
Film Library ◽  
Gregory Bateson ◽  
Siegfried Kracauer ◽  
Film And Media Studies

Abstract This article details the brief collaboration between Siegfried Kracauer and Gregory Bateson in the Film Library of the Museum of Modern Art during World War II as an intriguing episode in intellectual history, touching on film and media studies, anthropology, and German studies. The article presents the Frankfurt School as part of the 1940s’ memorandum culture and thereby attempts to situate the historiography of critical theory during this formative period within a broader intellectual landscape, that is, in dialogue and competition with several other projects, to analyze the Nazi German enemy, in this case, the Culture and Personality School. The article takes Kracauer’s and Bateson’s analyses of the Nazi movie Hitlerjunge Quex as a case in point and, with the help of institutional and biographical contextualization, develops some of their most important methodical innovations and insights into Nazi German propaganda. In particular, the article points to Kracauer’s concept of hypnosis and relates it to Bateson’s media theory.

The Cinema Intelligence Apparatus

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathaniel Brennan
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Film Studies ◽  
Modern Art ◽  
Museum Of Modern Art ◽  
Film Library ◽  
Gregory Bateson ◽  
Central Case ◽  
Test Film ◽  
The Cold War

This chapter, by Nathaniel Brennan, discusses the efforts of the Museum of Modern Art Film Library to make use of captured enemy motion pictures on behalf of the federal government’s wartime intelligence programs during World War II. While the chapter presents an overview of the film library’s governmental intelligence work, ranging from matters of storage to the challenges of training analysts, the central case study examines the work of British anthropologist Gregory Bateson, whose work at the film library consisted of trying to define an objective approach to the study of culture through cinema and the preparation of a test film that would instruct American soldiers about the peculiarities of the German character. Although Bateson’s plans did not materialize, the efforts of Margaret Mead to adapt Bateson’s anthropological film methodology for the Cold War nonetheless influenced the development of postwar film studies and the analysis of national cinemas.

Sabri, Atta (1912–1988)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tiffany Renee Floyd
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Modern Art ◽  
Fine Art ◽  
Museum Of Modern Art ◽  
National Museum ◽  
World War ◽  
Founding Member ◽  
Plastic Arts ◽  
Modern Artists

Born in Kirkuk, Iraq, Atta Sabri was among the pioneer generation of Iraqi modern artists with careers peaking in the mid-20th century. He was an active exhibitor and participant in several burgeoning art groups. After being educated and employed as a teacher in Baghdad, Sabri joined many of his peers in studying art abroad, first in Rome at the Accademia di Belle Arti and then, after World War II, in London at Goldsmith College and the Slade School. During the years of the war, Sabri held a job at the Department of Antiquities in Baghdad. After completing his studies, the artists again took up teaching this time at the Baghdadi Institute of Fine Art. Over the course of his career, Sabri became a founding member of the Society of the Friends of Art and a member of the Society of Iraqi Plastic Arts. His exhibition record includes the seminal Industrial and Agricultural Fair in 1931 and the 1950 First Iraqi Art Show in London. Sabri also exhibited extensively at the National Museum of Modern Art in Baghdad and in 1979 the museum held a retrospective of the artist’s oeuvre.

scholarly journals „Ani jedna taśma filmowa nie może ulec zniszczeniu”. Osiemdziesiąt lat działalności Międzynarodowej Federacji Archiwów Filmowych

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 113-124
Author(s):  
Agata Łysakowska-Trzoss
Keyword(s):  
Modern Art ◽  
International Federation ◽  
80Th Birthday ◽  
Museum Of Modern Art ◽  
Film Library ◽  
History Of ◽  
Film Archives ◽  
Art Film ◽  
Structure And Activity ◽  
Printed Sources

W 1938 r. z inicjatywy Henriego Langois’a i Georges’a Franju z Cinémathèque Française, Franka Hensela z R eichsfilmarchiv, Johna Abbotta z Museum of Modern Art Film Library oraz Olwen Vaughan z londyńskiej National Film Library powołano do życia Fédération Internationale des Archives du Film – Międzynarodową Federację Archiwów Filmowych. Celem artykułu jest przedstawienie działalności FIAF, która w zeszłym roku obchodziła swoje osiemdziesiąte urodziny. W teście omówiono początki Federacji, jej cele i strukturę oraz działalność (włączając w to organizację warsztatów, kongresów, działalność wydawniczą i koordynowane projekty). Podkreślono także zasługi FIAF w zakresie zabezpieczania dziedzictwa filmowego oraz współpracy między archiwami. W artykule wykorzystano źródła drukowane umieszczone na stronie Federacji (takie jak sprawozdania z posiedzeń, raporty), informacje ze strony internetowej organizacji oraz literaturę dotyczącą historii filmu. “Not a single tape can be destroyed.” Eighty years of operation of the International Federation of Film Archives In 1938, upon the initiative of Henry Langois and Georges Franju from Cinémathèque Française, Frank Hensel from Reichsfilmarchiv, John Abbott from the Museum of Modern Art Film Library, and Olwen Vaughan from the London National Film Library, Fédération Internationale des Archives du Film (International Federation of Film Archives) was established. The objective of the article is to present the operation of FIAF, which celebrated its 80th birthday last year. The text presents the early days of the Federation, its goals, structure and activity — including its workshops, congresses, publications, and projects. The achievements of FIAF in terms of protecting the film heritage and fostering cooperation between various archival offices are also discussed. The following sources have been used for the purposes of this paper: printed sources posted on the Federations’ website (such as minutes from meetings and reports), information from the organization’s website, and literature on the history of film.

Museum of Modern Art

1962 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 35-37
Author(s):  
Eileen Bowser
Keyword(s):  
Modern Art ◽  
Museum Of Modern Art

Ontological Laboratory in the Making: “After Year Zero” and the Resetting of Historical Imagination

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anselm Franke ◽  
Annett Busch ◽  
Katarzyna Bojarska
Keyword(s):  
Modern Art ◽  
Museum Of Modern Art ◽  
Historical Imagination

A conversation between Annett Busch, Anselm Franke, and Katarzyna Bojarska about the exhibition "After Year Zero. Universal Imaginaries - Geographies of Collaboration", shown at the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw between June and August 2015.

Introduction

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Walker
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Intellectual History ◽  
Formative Period ◽  
Classical Architecture ◽  
Historical Method ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Architectural Knowledge

The Introduction uses a major source from the beginning of the period—Sir Christopher Wren’s Letter from Paris of 1665—to introduce the key themes of the book. In particular, the Introduction discusses the recourse to an intellectual-historical method in order to rethink major themes in English architectural culture at the time. It also explains the makeup of architectural knowledge in the period and justifies the book’s focus on aesthetic knowledge rather than practical. Finally, it uses seventeenth-century sources to formulate an appropriate definition of classical architecture (on which this book is exclusively focused). The Introduction concludes with a summary of the ensuing chapters and a proposition that architecture was among the most serious and important of all intellectual pursuits in a formative period in English intellectual history.

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