Seminar and Interdisciplinary Dialogue between the Film Academy Vienna & the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna
In this teaching-research seminar, we analyze and discuss historical as well as current feminist film-aesthetic strategies. The focus is on materialist-feminist and intersectional critical approaches that examine the interlinking of aesthetic forms with societal relations of production and power. This perspective includes a critique of capitalism dimension that specifically interrogates the conditions of artistic production, the valorization logics of aesthetic labor, and the emancipatory potentials of critical practices. The aim is to understand how filmic and artistic works not only represent social relations but produce and reproduce them—and how they simultaneously open up possibilities for intervention to critique and transform dominant relations. Filmmakers and theorists will be invited for dialogue in order to bring art and film as well as theory and practice into productive exchange. The events aim to contribute to sharpening awareness of feminist film history and aesthetics and to encourage the development of one’s own artistic and theoretical engagements.
This event is a collaboration between Prof. Christine Lang (Media and Film Studies | Film Academy Vienna) and Prof. Constanze Ruhm (Art and Time—Media | Institute for Fine Arts). It positions itself as an interdisciplinary dialogue between the Film Academy Vienna and the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. COUNTER-IMAGES / COUNTER-NARRATIVES: FEMINIST AESTHETICS IN ART AND CINEMA will be held in the summer semester 2026 as well as in the winter semester 2026/27.
PROJECT
As part of the seminar COUNTER-IMAGES | COUNTER-NARRATIVES, a project is proposed in which students form small groups to collaborate on the seminar theme.
There is the option to develop free projects. Alternatively, students may engage with a historical film work – in line with the seminar’s focus on feminist film collectives. A list of relevant films is provided; all listed films are accessible and can be used as reference points for project work.
THEMATIC FOCUS AREAS
1. Invisible Labor / The Body as Economy: Feminist Positions on the Critique of Capitalism
FILMS
Sally Potter: The Gold Diggers (England 1983)
Alice Rohrwacher: Lazzaro felice /Lazzaro Felice (Italien 2018)
Marta Rodriguez: Chircales/The Brickmakers (Kolumbien 1972)
Agnès Varda: Les glaneurs et la glaneuse (Frankreich 2000)
Martha Rosler: Semiotics of the Kitchen (USA 1975)
Helke Sander: Redupers (Deutschland 1978)
Tatjana Turanskij: Ein flexible Frau (Deutschland 2010)
Helma Sander Brahms: Unter dem Pflaster ist der Strand (Deutschland 1975)
Erika Junge: Warum ist Frau B. glücklich? (Deutschland 1968)
Kelly Reichardt: Wendy and Lucy (USA 2008)
2. Feminist Perspectives on Care Work, Self Exploitation, Precarization
FILMS
Geri Ashur, Peter Barton, Marilyn Mulford, Stephanie Pawleski: Janie’s Janie (USA, 1971)
Hito Steyerl: Factory of the Sun (Deutschland, 2015)
Hito Steyerl: Mechanical Kurds (Deutschland, 2025)
Carmen Trocker: Personale (Italien / Österreich, 2024)
Sheila McLaughlin, Lynne Tillman: Committed (USA, 1984)
Helke Sander: Eine Prämie für Irene (BRD, 1971)
Elisabeth Subrin: Maria Schneider, 1983 (Frankreich / USA, 2022)
Helma Sanders-Brahms: Die industrielle Reservearmee (BRD, 1971)
Claudia von Alemann: Es kommt drauf an, sie zu verändern (BRD, 1972/73)
Yvonne Rainer: Lives of Performers (USA, 1972)
3. Queer Cinema as Counter Narrative
FILMS
Jessica Dunn Rovinelli: So Pretty (USA/Frankreich, 2019)
Jane Schoenbrun: We’re All Going to the World’s Fair (USA, 2021) Jane Schoenbrun: I Saw the TV Glow (USA, 2024)
Barbara Hammer: Nitrate Kisses (USA, 1992)
Angelika Levi: Mein Leben Teil 2 (Deutschland/Chile, 2003)
Sarnt Utamachote: I Don’t Want to Be Just a Memory (2024)
Zara Zandieh: Octavia’s Visions (Deutschland, 2021)
Samira Elagoz & Z Walsh: You Can’t Get What You Want But You Can Get Me (Niederlande/Finnland, 2024)
Céline Sciamma: Tomboy (Frankreich, 2011)
Lola Arias: Reas (Argentinien/Deutschland/Schweiz, 2024)
Monika Treut: Gendernauts (Deutschland, 1999)