Finding Spaces of Attraction

Where are spaces of attraction found in public spaces? What attracts us to these spaces? Lotte Schreiber's filmic surveys of space pose the guiding question of how spaces can be depicted. Cinemas, clubs, protests, exhibitions, bustling events, and festivals confront us with the architectures of spectacle and display. How can we gauge their force of attraction using their visual appearance and social interactions? The investigation of space with audiovisual tools can be viewed as a translation process: odors, temperatures, wind and haptics must be translated into images, sounds, and montage. How do real and imagined spaces behave toward race, class, and gender? And what role does the filming body play in this process?
 
Theater, film and media studies students from the University of Vienna used these questions to conceive their own filmic surveys of space. They looked at concrete locations such as Semper Depot and Westbahnhof as well as abstract spaces such as sites of memory where the collective and personal come together. This confronted the students with a wide variety of questions and challenges. For instance, how can a mystical being such as water, located somewhere between space and reality, be captured on film? What connects a photo booth and a confessional? And how does a suitcase perceive its own surroundings? (Anna Dohnalek / Translation: Ted Fendt)

Give me space, hold me tight Rebeka Bandli, Isabella Gstättner, Magdalena Knor, Chiara Steinwender, Anja Tomas. AT, 2022, 7 min
Rolling, Hating Julia Artmayr, Wencke Conradi, Patrik Howanitz, Kim Hufnagl, Alicia Lang, Leo Plankensteiner, Julia Wurzinger. AT, 2022, 6 min
Patterns of Space Peter-Moritz Barth, Irena Nikoleva, Nefeli Giolas, Nina Mihalovic, Felix Rupprecht. AT, 2022, 4 min
Sieben Beatrice Duda, Kristin Kritzinger, Eva-Maria Leitner, Anna-Luisa Mahaffy, Alex Mauch, Jezabel Roth, Isabelle Wirth. AT, 2022, 4 min
Undine Louise Batalle, Helena Elias, Tyra Findenegg, Lea Meer, Christian Müller, Paula Rehwald. AT, 2022, 3 min

Date of the public presentation with Lotte Schreiber and the filmmakers in attendance (free admission): July 1, 2023