Elisa Mandelli
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2021
- ISBN:
- 9781474416795
- eISBN:
- 9781474476577
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474416795.001.0001
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
Moving images have become a common feature in museums, where visitors are now accustomed to finding a broad variety of projections and screens. But when did films start to be displayed in history, ...
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Moving images have become a common feature in museums, where visitors are now accustomed to finding a broad variety of projections and screens. But when did films start to be displayed in history, science or natural history museums? How did visitors react to the transformation of static displays by means of moving images? And what are the current stakes of showing audio-visuals in exhibition spaces? The Museum as a Cinematic Space is an extensive investigation of the use of moving images in exhibition design outside the art field. It explores how museums have incorporated films and audio-visuals in their display from the beginning of the twentieth century up to the present. The Museum as a Cinematic Space investigates the inclusion of cinematic elements (films, screens, projections) within the display. In addition to describing the strategies used by the curators to exhibit films, the book identifies the practical, technical and discursive conditions that made possible the use of moving images in museum galleries during the twentieth and twenty-first century. By opening itself to moving images, the exhibition becomes a place where cinema and museum spectatorships converge, reshaping the relations between the public, the images, and viewing space.Less
Moving images have become a common feature in museums, where visitors are now accustomed to finding a broad variety of projections and screens. But when did films start to be displayed in history, science or natural history museums? How did visitors react to the transformation of static displays by means of moving images? And what are the current stakes of showing audio-visuals in exhibition spaces? The Museum as a Cinematic Space is an extensive investigation of the use of moving images in exhibition design outside the art field. It explores how museums have incorporated films and audio-visuals in their display from the beginning of the twentieth century up to the present. The Museum as a Cinematic Space investigates the inclusion of cinematic elements (films, screens, projections) within the display. In addition to describing the strategies used by the curators to exhibit films, the book identifies the practical, technical and discursive conditions that made possible the use of moving images in museum galleries during the twentieth and twenty-first century. By opening itself to moving images, the exhibition becomes a place where cinema and museum spectatorships converge, reshaping the relations between the public, the images, and viewing space.
Elisa Mandelli
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2021
- ISBN:
- 9781474416795
- eISBN:
- 9781474476577
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474416795.003.0012
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
This chapter runs through the main arguments of the book and traces the conclusions, arguing that not only audio-visuals can be incorporated in exhibitions, but exhibitions can also be structured ...
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This chapter runs through the main arguments of the book and traces the conclusions, arguing that not only audio-visuals can be incorporated in exhibitions, but exhibitions can also be structured according to cinematic principles, or be influenced by the configuration of the “classic” cinematic dispositive. Moreover, moving images play a key role in shaping the relationships between visitors and the museum. The cinematic component should thus be understood as a “structural element” of contemporary museum exhibitions, rather than as an extrinsic component.Less
This chapter runs through the main arguments of the book and traces the conclusions, arguing that not only audio-visuals can be incorporated in exhibitions, but exhibitions can also be structured according to cinematic principles, or be influenced by the configuration of the “classic” cinematic dispositive. Moreover, moving images play a key role in shaping the relationships between visitors and the museum. The cinematic component should thus be understood as a “structural element” of contemporary museum exhibitions, rather than as an extrinsic component.
Wai-Siam Hee
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- September 2020
- ISBN:
- 9789888528035
- eISBN:
- 9789882204874
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Hong Kong University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5790/hongkong/9789888528035.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
The third chapter examines the MFU, a film organisation affiliated with the post-war British colonial government, and its multilingual colonial films. The MFU produced a large number of historical ...
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The third chapter examines the MFU, a film organisation affiliated with the post-war British colonial government, and its multilingual colonial films. The MFU produced a large number of historical and geographical documentaries in support of the British colonial regime and the Singaporean and Malayan autonomous governments. The film unit also directed the production and filming of many propaganda films and feature films accompanied by recordings and commentaries in different languages and Chinese topolects. These films vigorously promoted Cold War ideology to the Malayan people, and all theatres in Malaya were compelled to screen these films. The ultimate goal of the MFU was to interpellate a Malayan identity in order to eradicate the threat posed by communist ideology. This chapter considers films made by the MFU alongside Cold War archival materials gathered from The British Film Institute, The UK National Archives, Imperial War Museums, The British Library, National Archives of Singapore, the National Film Department of Malaysia, and 1950s–1960s reportage on the MFU in US, UK, and local newspapers in Chinese and English. It will explore how Chinese New Village settlers and Malayan communists were represented in semi-realistic/semi-fictional moving images during the Cold War period. This chapter aims to reconsider the question of whether the aim of the MFU really was to hasten the end of empire, or if it was an extension of the imperialist machinery of state in S.E. Asia.Less
The third chapter examines the MFU, a film organisation affiliated with the post-war British colonial government, and its multilingual colonial films. The MFU produced a large number of historical and geographical documentaries in support of the British colonial regime and the Singaporean and Malayan autonomous governments. The film unit also directed the production and filming of many propaganda films and feature films accompanied by recordings and commentaries in different languages and Chinese topolects. These films vigorously promoted Cold War ideology to the Malayan people, and all theatres in Malaya were compelled to screen these films. The ultimate goal of the MFU was to interpellate a Malayan identity in order to eradicate the threat posed by communist ideology. This chapter considers films made by the MFU alongside Cold War archival materials gathered from The British Film Institute, The UK National Archives, Imperial War Museums, The British Library, National Archives of Singapore, the National Film Department of Malaysia, and 1950s–1960s reportage on the MFU in US, UK, and local newspapers in Chinese and English. It will explore how Chinese New Village settlers and Malayan communists were represented in semi-realistic/semi-fictional moving images during the Cold War period. This chapter aims to reconsider the question of whether the aim of the MFU really was to hasten the end of empire, or if it was an extension of the imperialist machinery of state in S.E. Asia.
