What Are Theory Films? On the Visual Afterlife of Theory as Text
Guest lecture by Dr. Florian Fuchs (Princeton)
In my ongoing research project that I鈥檇 like to discuss with the group, I am proposing that there is such a thing as a 鈥渢heory film鈥, i.e. non-fictional films that are neither documentary films, essay films, nor merely experimental or art films. A theory film, I argue, theorizes invisible matters through the images at hand and so establishes the non-textual side of what has been called the 鈥渉istory of theory鈥 (Philipp Felsch). I will pose this thesis by discussing with you a few scenes from films by the German film maker Harun Farocki and by walking you through how Farocki adapts textual procedures such as close reading, contextual analysis, and critical commentary into a theoretical discourse of images. I鈥檒l end with an outlook about how this 鈥渢heory as moving image鈥 might outdo its textual counterparts and by naming a few other examples of 鈥渢heory films鈥, thus hopefully opening up my presentation for a wide discussion.