Exercises in Curating: Response papers

Requirement:
• Five one-page responses to five different group shows
• One two-page response to the (or if there are multiple shows, one of the) student show(s), presented at PFA, and curated by last semester’s interns.

A group show is defined as a program that includes at least three different films or videos of any length.

You need to respond to programs presented at three different showcases.

For each of response:
Note details about the theater (the atmosphere, the style of presentation), the audience (the mix, their focus on the program, their reactions), and the presentation of the program (is it introduced? is there a handout?). Think also about the organizing principle of the program: is it organized by theme? chronologically? or by some other means?

• First response paper: Analyze the selection of the first & last film

• Second: Analyze the above, plus think about the order of the films in terms of the style of the films: think both about aesthetic issues (such as rhythm of editing or color palette) and mood or tone.

• Third: Analyze the above, plus think about the show order in relation to the films’ use of sound and silence (dialog, music, voice-over), and whether the films are B&W or color.

• Fourth and Fifth: Analyze in detail the transitions between each film and your sense of how the program works as a whole.