Script Films

Film directors have used the written word as a design element in moving pictures since day one. These include films or parts of films which feature moving, animated or graphically designed text – a technique still used today in a variety of forms in cinema, television, videos and on the Web.
This international project by the ZKM represented the attempt to collect over 300 script films from more than 20 countries from 1895 to the present. The films, some of which were quite difficult to procure, have been stored in an open archive, categorized and presented to the public. The exhibitions, screenings, symposiums and workshops were primarily aimed at younger audiences and demonstrated how writing has shifted from a static to a dynamic, multimedia system of characters through the use of technical-electronic communication.
The aim was to emphasize the significance of writing for moving-picture cultures and illustrate its role in global medialisation processes. The project also hoped to stimulate the transcultural examination of comparable developments in other non-European writing systems. The project includes a bilingual DVD for research purposes and media-competence training courses.

Artistic director: Bernd Scheffer, Christine Stenzer, Soenke Zehle; Consultant: Rolf Sachsse; Cooperative partners: Leonhard Emmerling (Goethe-Institut), Mike Stubbs (FACT Liverpool/GB), Benjamin Weil (LABoral Gijón/ES)
Artists (selection): John Baldessari, Saul Bass, Kyle Cooper, Silvie und Chérif Defraoui, Marcel Duchamp, Thomas Alva Edison, Fluxus Heidelberg, Gary Hill, Ferdinand Kriwet, Jan Lenica, Antoni Muntadas, Dennis Oppenheim, Stephen Partridge, Dan Perri, Peter Rose, Gerhard Rühm, Eino Ruutsalo, Paul Sharits, Daniel Szczechura, Timm Ulrichs, Paul Wegener, Robert Wiene.

ZKM Karlsruhe, 16 Nov. 2013 – 12 Jan. 2014