Chris Robé: Breaking the Spell: A History of Anarchist Filmmakers, Videotape Guerrillas, and Digital Ninjas (2017)

“Breaking the Spell offers the first full-length study that charts the historical trajectory of anarchist-inflected video activism from the late 1960s to the present. Two predominant trends emerge from this social movement-based video activism: 1) anarchist-inflected processes increasingly structure its production, distribution, and exhibition practices; and 2) video does not simply represent collective actions and events, but also serves as a form of activist practice in and of itself from the moment of recording to its later distribution and exhibition. Video plays an increasingly important role among activists in the growing global resistance against neoliberal capitalism. As various radical theorists have pointed out, subjectivity itself becomes a key terrain of struggle as capitalism increasingly structures and mines it through social media sites, cell phone technology, and new “flexible” work and living patterns. As a result, alternative media production becomes a central location where new collective forms of subjectivity can be created to challenge aspects of neoliberalism.

Chris Robé’s book fills in historical gaps by bringing to light unexplored video activist groups like the Cascadia Forest Defenders, eco-video activists from Eugene, Oregon; Mobile Voices, Latino day laborers harnessing cell phone technology to combat racism and police harassment in Los Angeles; and Outta Your Backpack Media, indigenous youth from the Southwest who use video to celebrate their culture and fight against marginalization. This groundbreaking study also deepens our understanding of more well-researched movements like AIDS video activism, Paper Tiger Television, and Indymedia by situating them within a longer history and wider context of radical video activism.”

Publisher PM Press, Oakland, CA, 2017
ISBN 9781629632339, 1629632333
x+469 pages

Interview with author: The New Architects (video, 2017, 43 min).
Reviews: Beth Geglia (Interface, 2017), Franklin Lopez (Fifth Estate, 2017), Patricia R. Zimmerman (Jump Cut, 2018), Allan Atliff (Anarchist Studies, 2017).

Author
Publisher
WorldCat

PDF (16 MB)
Academia.edu (author)

Defiant Muses: Delphine Seyrig and the Feminist Video Collectives in France, 1970s-1980s (2019) [English, Spanish]

“This publication explores the intersection between the histories of cinema, video and feminism in France. Focusing on the emergence of video collectives in the 1970s, the exhibition proposes to reconsider the history of the feminist movement in France through a set of media practices and looks at a network of creative alliances that emerged in a time of political turmoil.”

Contributors: Nataša Petrešin-Bachelez, Giovanna Zapperi, Alexandre Moussa, Ros Murray, François Vergès, Élisabeth Lebovici, Nicole Fernández Ferrer.

Introduction by Nataša Petrešin-Bachelez and Giovanna Zapperi
Publisher Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (MACBA), Barcelona, 2019
Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0 International License
ISBN 9788480266000, 8480266007 (EN)
231 pages

Exh. review: Mathilde Bartier (AWARE, 2019).

Exhibition
Publisher (EN)
WorldCat (EN)

English: PDF, PDF (20 MB)
Spanish: PDF, PDF (20 MB)

Artikişler Kolektif (eds.): İstanbul’un Artığı / Surplus of Istanbul (2014) [Turkish/English]

“Surplus of İstanbul is a project book edited by Artıkişler Collective. The book is primarily about a video methodology process based research ongoing with waste collectors in Istanbul. At the same time the book includes makes connections with past researches (2001) and engagements with waste collectors from Hakkari and Ankara. The book consists of experiences and observations by members of Artıkişler Collective on the main themes of waste, garbage, urbanism, labor and video activism. Moreover, the book as well includes texts by diverse writers who discuss and relate the theme in context of ethnic conflict, video image, identity of the researcher, urban surplus and urban transformation.”

Contributions by İrfan Aktan, Ali Saltan, Oktay Ince, Ezgi Koman, Ulus Baker, David Harvey, Yaşar Çabuklu, Sibel Yardımcı, Pelin Tan, Artıkişler Kolektifi.

Edited by Özge Çelikaslan, Alper Şen and Pelin Tan
Publisher Artikişler Collective, November 2014
ISBN 9786056527807
140 pages

Project website
Publisher

PDF