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Interpreting Urban Space and the Everyday through Video Practice 

This PhD research project  was based on a consideration of the documentary potential of  early British Structural and/or Materialist films by  Malcolm Le Grice and Peter Gidal and their theory and practice of film (politics and aesthetics), as well as an interrogation of how the form had evolved more recently into a form of  reflexive and or performative documentary art practice  within the community of British Artist filmmakers re engaging with the original politics and aesthetics of the form, from roughly the period of (2000-2010).  The research problem/question was that, if within this framework, there was the possibility of going against the grain of reflexive and anti-illusionistic theory and practice around urban documentary which characterized the reemergence of the form during this period,  in order  to make a form of expressionistic/emotive/performative documentary practice which could say something about urban and everyday lived experience.   In this respect, the research through practice component of this PhD  theorized, applied and transposed some of the “Materialist” practices of the early British Structural Materialists for a documentary art practice located in a digital video and editing platform, with a focus observation, sampling,  and the creative treatment of sound and images based on the lived urban and everyday environment. Some of the very early audio visual work made during this period overlapped with the terrorist attacks on the London Underground/transportation network (July 7th 2005). This PhD also took form as a traditional written dissertation in which an extensive literature review was undertaken on the subject of European modernist and avant-garde art and film and early documentary film practice, in order to trace the development and the theory and practice of British Avant-garde filmmaker artists and further inform my practice.  In addition, a working theory of practice was developed through an intersection of  materialist film, digital, and observational audio visual moving image and documentary practice, with the writings and theory of Space (Henri Levebvre), and the phenomenology of lived experience (Merleau-Ponty and others..)

Please note: as of December 2015 this site has become an archive and no new posts will be added. This site documents/archives just some of the research that went into the undertaking of a PhD in the moving image at The University of Brighton (UK) during the period of about 2006-2013.  Also there are some out takes included (not all of the little episodic films made it into my PhD submission, and some papers/conferences after completion).  Please see the links in the menu to view a range of projects and other works made during this period.  

Email contact: Sandra E. Lim (sandra).(lim)@ryerson.ca

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