Directed by lucien castaingtaylor and managed by ernst karel, the lab provides an academic context for the development of creative works that test and respond to the traditions of documentary film. At harvard, meet the lab thats creating a new kind of cinema. After receiving his phd from harvard in 1995, he has taught at the university of california. The peabody museum, in collaboration with the harvard film archive, the department of visual and environmental studies, the film study center at harvard, the sensory ethnography lab at harvard, and the carpenter center for the visual arts at harvard, presents two weekends of ethnographic documentary screenings along with special events highlighting the recent work of both filmmaker robert. Graduate program administrator monique rivera tozzer anthropology building 103a 21 divinity ave. This series highlights contemporary work produced at harvards sensory ethnography lab sel exploring the intersection of cinema and anthropology. Initiated within harvard s sensory ethnography lab and produced jointly with metalab at harvard, sensate is a collaborative and interdisciplinary initiative involving graduate students and faculty as well as independent artists and scholars from various universities, centers and departments, with the intent to integrate new modes of media. Three artists from harvard bring largescale, audiovideo installation about the fragility of modern life to science center. The sounds of equipment, devices, and activities draw attention to the physical processes underlying scientific research, the work underway which provides a ground for our highly technologized society. Castaingtaylor is an anthropologist whose work conjugates arts negative capability with an ethnographic attachment to the flux of life and a engagement with the pressing ecological and political challenges of our day. Jp sniadecki and the harvard sensory ethnography lab.
Stern studies urban planning and is a graduate student associate at the weatherhead center. Archaeology, social anthropology, linguistic, medical, sensory ethnography and applied anthropology to many other fields in the social sciences, humanities, and. The lesser known sensory ethnography lab is an experimental hotbed for docs that dont deal in talking heads. Sensory ethnography lab harvard gazette official news from harvard covering innovation in teaching, learning, and research. Rebecca richman cohen lecturer on law harvard law school. The anthropology department offers specialized focus on. Stephanie spray and pacho velez, 20 courtesy cozette russell and the harvard sensory ethnography lab. Faculty department of art, film, and visual studies. The sensory ethnography lab, founded by lucien castaingtaylor at harvard in 2006, has become a productive studio for feature films that combine an ethnographic consciousness with avantgarde approaches. My scholarship engages with the theories and historiography of colonialism, decolonization, and postcoloniality. The resulting filmscollaborative works like ilisa barbash and castaingtaylors sweetgrass, j. Extrasensory perception from a trio of boundary pushers.
His work is located within that vein of cinemafrom robert j. Harvard faculty and staff talk about how theyre spending their time when theres nowhere to go and no one to see. Jul 31, 2016 this series highlights contemporary work produced at harvards sensory ethnography lab sel exploring the intersection of cinema and anthropology. Her work is on the permanent collection of the museum of modern art, new york, and has been screened at the afi, bafici, berlin, cph. Initiated within harvards sensory ethnography lab and produced jointly with metalab at harvard, sensate is a collaborative and interdisciplinary initiative involving graduate students and faculty as well as independent artists and scholars from various universities, centers and departments, with the intent to integrate new modes of media. Harvard sensory ethnography lab filmmaker magazine. The brutality of fishing, as opposed to its romance, is emphasized here. Sep 02, 2012 straddling academia and the art house, mr. Castaingtaylor and his associates and students at the sensory ethnography lab at harvard have. The sensory ethnography lab sel at harvard university is an interdisciplinary center for the making of anthropologically informed works of media that combine aesthetics and ethnography. Lucien castaingtaylor is an assistant professor of visual and environmental studies and anthropology in the department of visual and environmental studies, associate director of the film study center, and director of the sensory ethnography lab at harvard university. Karel currently manages the sensory ethnography lab and the film study center at harvard university, where as lecturer on anthropology, he also coteaches courses in media archaeology and ethnographic audio and video production. Sniadecki and verena paravels foreign parts, castaingtaylor and paravels. Production courses associated with the sel are offered through anthropology, visual and environmental studies, and the graduate school of design.
Harvards semisecret lab that pumps out great documentaries. Faculty members and students at the sensory ethnography lab at harvard are trying to create films that reflect the messiness of life. Eloy enciso is a filmmaker based in galicia, spain. Official news from harvard covering innovation in teaching, learning, and research. Anthropology brings a global comparative and very broad perspective to the study of human beings, exploring an enormous range of similarities and differences in time and space. Free with museum admission screening in menschel hall. Department of art, film, and visual studies carpenter center 24 quincy street cambridge, ma 028 tel. The lab was founded at harvard in 2006 by castaingtaylor, an anthropologist by training. Director, film study center codirector of graduate studies, critical media practice. Directed by lucien castaingtaylor and managed by ernst karel, the sensory ethnography lab provides an academic context for the development of creative works that test and respond to the traditions of documentary film.
As such, the film captures a process thats both timeless and finite. Stephanie spray and pacho velez, 20 courtesy cozette russell and the harvard sensory. The field is linked through its subdisciplines to many other fields in the social sciences, humanities, and natural sciences. Sensory ethnography lab directed by lucien castaingtaylor and managed by ernst karel, the sensory ethnography lab provides an academic context for the development of creative works that test and respond to the traditions of documentary film. By adam nayman published september 5th, 20 issue 91, fall 20 comments. And indeed, its a product of harvard universitys sensory ethnography lab, which encourages art that explores the sensory. Archaeology, social anthropology, linguistic, medical, sensory ethnography and applied anthropology to many other fields in the social sciences, humanities, and natural sciences. Apr 22, 2020 the sensory ethnography lab sel is an experimental laboratory at harvard university that promotes innovative combinations of aesthetics and ethnography. Verena paravel verena paravel is a filmmaker, artist and anthropologist who work at the sensory ethnography lab at harvard university.
The sensory ethnography lab at harvard supports innovative combinations of aesthetics and ethnography that deploy original media practices. Eloy enciso radcliffe institute for advanced study at. The mostly wordless art piece uses tiny cameras and dramatic soundscaping to probe the edges of humananimal interaction off the coast of new england. Anthropology brings a global and comparative perspective to the study of human beings, exploring a wide range of topics across space and time. Anthropologists and artists who conduct research at the sel investigate processes. Formed at harvard in 2006 by lucien castaingtaylor as a collaboration between the universitys anthropology department and visual and environmental studies department, the harvard sensory ethnography lab sel is less a lab and more of a grad school. Castaingtaylor began the lab in 2006 to combine the departments of anthropology and visual and environmental studies at harvard.
Harvard filmmakers in berlin lucien castaingtaylor and verena paravel, both at harvard s sensory ethnography lab, are screening their codirected leviathan 2012, a wordless, sensual, and phantasmagoric portrait of commercial fishing aboard a trawler out of new bedford, mass. Harvards sensory ethnography lab a group of filmmakers is pushing nonfiction film in new and innovative directions. The sensory ethnography lab at harvard university on academia. Using the anthropological literature database harvard library.
A sonic ethnography of scientific research environments at harvard university. The trumpet prevailed throughout the ensuing 18 or so years, part of karels instrumentation in the excellent improvising duo ekg, his longstanding collaboration with. On the road harvard university the graduate school of. Leviathan could be called an overwhelming sensory experience. Before moving to harvard, he taught at vassar college 197880 and indiana university 198091 where he served as associate chair of the research center for language and semiotic studies, 198085, and as chair of the department of anthropology, 198790. The 20 true vision award goes to lucien castaingtaylor. Its an interdisciplinary program that admits around ten students a year, with a course called sensory. Director, sensory ethnography lab codirector of graduate studies, critical media practice. The filmmakers explain their unusual production process. Harvards semisecret lab that pumps out great documentaries dazed. In sweetgrass, this means following montana sheepherders through the absarokabeartooth wilderness. Harvard university sensory ethnography lab academia. It uses analog and digital media to explore the aesthetics and ontology of the natural and unnatural world.
Sheep were among the first domesticated animals and this 2001 trip was the last of its sort. In mexico, the program collaborated with ambulante, a nonprofit organization that focuses on supporting and promoting documentary film as a tool for social and cultural transformation, in the organization of the workshop paisajes sensoriales. The sensory ethnography lab sel is a harvardbased lab that focuses on reinventing ethnographic film and documentary. Mar 27, 2020 courtesy of harvards sensory ethnography lab for more than 60 years, the boston and cambridge area has produced the worlds best, most innovative, and most influential documentary filmmakers. The sensory ethnography lab sel at harvard university explores this process and encourages attention to the many dimensions of the world, both animate and inanimate, that may only with difficulty, if it all, be rendered with propositional prose. The sensory ethnography lab at harvard supports innovative combinations of aesthetics and ethnography that deploy. Harvard sensory ethnography lab the top 10 movies, in their own ways, of 2014 im not much for yearend listmaking the release calendar variables for potential inclusion are pretty limited, so it feels like a pointless exercise in rearranging the same 20 pieces as everybody else, and ive probably written about the movies in question. Stephanie spray and pacho velez, 20 courtesy cozette russell and the harvard sensory ethnography lab in the past 25 years, there have been two movies released with the title leviathan.
Three documentaries from the sensory ethnography lab the. Harvard s sensory ethnography lab turns academic anthropological theory into irreducible, immersive cinema, discovering a captivating beauty in the interconnected web of human and animal life. Formed at harvard in 2006 by lucien castaingtaylor as a collaboration between the universitys anthropology department and visual and environmental studies department, the harvard sensory ethnography. On their website, the harvard sensory ethnography lab sel for short say their work opposes the traditions of art that are not deeply infused with the real, and its hard to argue with that. Scholarship beyond words new media is becoming a touchstone in some dissertations. Flaherty to current work coming out of harvard s sensory ethnography lab that seeks not so much to explain other cultures as to provide an immersive experience of them. The sensory ethnography lab sel is an experimental laboratory at harvard university that promotes innovative combinations of aesthetics and ethnography. This series highlights contemporary work produced at harvards sensory ethnography lab sel exploring the intersection of cinema and. The sensory ethnography lab sel at harvard university is an interdisciplinary center for the making of anthropologically informed works of media that. Courtesy of harvard s sensory ethnography lab for more than 60 years, the boston and cambridge area has produced the worlds best, most innovative. Shaffer, a phd candidate in media anthropology, is a film study centerharvard fellow and a member of the sensory ethnography lab. Harnessing perspectives drawn from the arts, the social and natural sciences, and the humanities, the sel encourages attention to the. Leviathan is a new film thats a documentary, and yet not quite a documentary.
This series highlights contemporary work produced at harvard s sensory ethnography lab sel exploring the intersection of cinema and anthropology. It uses analog and digital media, installation, and performance, to explore the aesthetics and ontology of the natural and unnatural world. Bio i am a political and media anthropologist working in west papua, a selfidentifying term referring to the indonesias provinces of papua and west papua. Castaingtaylor and his associates and students at the sensory ethnography lab at harvard have been responsible for some of the most daring and. We are thrilled to announce that the 20 true vision award will go to lucien castaingtaylor and verena paravel, codirectors of leviathan and instructors at harvard s sensory ethnography lab. Harvards sensory ethnography lab freiburger filmforum.
Its an interdisciplinary program that admits around ten students a year, with a course called sensory ethnography. The experience is often unnerving and sometimes nauseating, because of the motions of the juddering, swaying handheld. A product of the sensory ethnography lab at harvard, the film offers not information but immersion in wind, water, grinding machinery and piscine agony. About two miles north of mit, at harvard university, documentary is finding its way into the overall curriculum. Department of art, film, and visual studies carpenter center 24 quincy street cambridge, ma. Less a lab and more a collection of likeminded individuals, the sensory ethnography labs sel first widely distributed release was the experimental documentary sweetgrass, an observational. Peoples park 2012 this series highlights contemporary work produced at harvards sensory ethnography lab sel exploring the intersection of cinema and anthropology. Art, film, and other media at harvard department of art. It is an experimental work about the north american fishing industry. Sensory ethnography lab page 1 of 1 humanity through a telephone by way of a telescope three artists from harvard bring largescale, audiovideo installation about the fragility of modern life to science center plaza. Film has been part of the harvard curriculum since the late 1950s, when anthropologist and filmmaker robert gardner founded the film study center. The sensory ethnography lab sel is an experimental laboratory that promotes innovative combinations of aesthetics and ethnography. David edwards gordon mckay professor of the practice of idea translation founder and director, le laboratoire in paris, france faculty associate, center for nanoscale systems.