Film Program for Juniper Mind's Visual Literacy Workshop: Images and Ideology
I’ve programmed a series of films for an online workshop titled Visual Literacy run by Juniper Mind, founded by Kevin Jones.
Images and Ideology is the theme for the workshop in June which will include four weekly discussions on Mondays based on suggested readings, and four weekly discussions on Wednesdays based on suggested film viewing.
Images and Ideology sensitizes participants to the ideological potency of images and provides tools to decode imagery from varying contexts: consumerism, politics, climate and the environment, tech and health. The corresponding film series will be curated by artist, film programmer and founder of theculturist.com, Hind Mezaina.
Images & Ideology Film Series
Mainstream film often reinforces familiar ideological constructions - the norm of heterosexuality, the value of hard work, love for a nation. Yet increasingly, current cinema problematizes these constructions. Starting with the unusual work The Dubai In Me on how we "render" the world, the series will confront such issues as the impact of Narendra Modi's politics in India and the cultural "induction" of migrants on the island of Lampedusa.Structured around questions proposed by the moderator Hind Mezaina, the discussion groups are safe spaces of analysis, critique, and spirited, open conversation.
Date and Timings for the Readings group discussion (via Zoom Meetings):
Monday 08 June, 7-9 pm GST
Monday 15 June, 7-9 pm GST
Monday 22 June, 7-9 pm GST
Monday 29 June, 7-9 pm GST
Date and Timings for the Film Series group discussion (via Zoom Meetings):
Wednesday 10 June, 7 pm GST:
The Dubai in Me (Christian von Borries, 2010)
Wednesday 17 June, 7 pm GST:
Images of the World and the Inscription of War (Harun Farocki, 1989)
Wednesday 24 June, 7 pm GST:
Nasir (Arun Karthick, 2020)*
Toilets Not Temples (Will Benedict and David Leonard, 2014)
Naseem (Saeed Akhtar Mirza, 1995)
Wednesday 1 July, 7 pm GST
Stranger in Paradise (Guido Hendrikx, 2016)
* To be confirmed.
If you are interested in attending this workshop, please register here and links for the readings, the films and the meetings will be shared accordingly.
Fees: Images and Ideology and Film Series (4 workshops and 4 discussion groups): 950 AED
About the Visual Literacy workshops:
Visual Literacy is about challenging our faith in images, helping participants improve how they interpret and analyse images in our current visual culture. The course is addressed to those in the business of making and manipulating images, both literally and metaphorically: artists, writers, filmmakers, architects, curators on one hand; PR specialists, branding and communications professionals, marketeers, advertising creatives on the other. Cross-pollinating these two audiences is a key ambition not just for this course, but for everything Juniper Mind does.
Visual Literacy consists of three modules: The Gaze, Images and Ideology, and Mistrusting Images. Each comprises four two-hour workshops (so eight hours per module). Each module is associated to a Film Series featuring links to four films and an online discussion group per film.