Whitechapel Gallery 77-82 Whitechapel High St London E1 7QX 11.30am to 6.00pm Friday 6 November to Saturday 7 November, 2015 Artists' moving image practice is activated by the context of the gallery, by temporary architectural environments, the cinema and the internet, and by social and political performance. Over the last few decades, this kind of artistic practice – which has its roots in film, performance and installation art – has become a phenomenon in its own right. British artists and institutions have played a pioneering role in this history. From the filmmaking co-ops of the 1970s to recent exercises in digital manipulation, UK-based artists have been at the forefront of artistic experimentation, distribution, and exhibition. This has particularly been the case since the 1990s, when a mixture of artist support agencies and galleries such as LUX, Film and Video Umbrella, FACT, Film London and Channel 4 began re-aligning funding interests and supporting artists' moving image work. Despite being showcased and discussed by arts and cultural organizations and academics, this field has not been fully explored or historicised. Featuring keynote lectures and panel discussions with leading specialists – artists, curators, film historians, art historians and critics – the purpose of this conference is to map the recent history of of this dynamic strand of visual culture within a British context, and to develop new scholarly research through thematic discussions and close readings of selected works and artists. The screens that permanently surround us may appear as animated mirrors that always reflect the needs and desires of their users. But what is it we are touching when we use these devices? Who is touching what? To imagine what the world looks like behind the surface of these screens is to embark upon a process of disidentification that reverses the perspective of perception. Drawing upon new work by The Otolith Group, Kodwo Eshun speculates upon what our devices see and touch when they touch and look at us. Speakers include Kodwo Eshun, Erika Balsom, George Barber, Iwona Blazwick, James Boaden, Steven Cairns, Maeve Connolly, Nina Danino, TJ Demos, Gareth Evans, Ed Halter, Shanay Jhaveri, Omar Kholeif, Michael Maziere, Sarah Perks, Colin Perry, Michele Pierson, Gary Thomas, Jonathan Patkowski, Lucy Reynolds, Andrew Vallance, among others. Programme Friday 6 November, 11.30am - 6pm 11.30am Introduction by Mark Hallett, Director of Studies at the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art 11.35am Introduction by Omar Kholeif, Curator Whitechapel Gallery 11.50am Iwona Blazwick, Director, Whitechapel Gallery. Artists Moving Image work in Britain: A case study 12.05pm Maeve Connolly, Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design & Technology, Dublin, Lecturer in Film Studies Mined and Mediated Bodies: Acting in Artists' Film 12.25pm Lucy Reynolds, CSM, University of the Arts London, Lecturer, artist and curator Figure and Ground: En-gendering Formal Film Presentations followed by panel discussion chaired by Erika Balsom, King's College London, Lecturer in Film Studies. Followed by Q&A 1.30pm Break 2.45pm Panel discussions (break-out sessions) Film and video on TV: Colin Perry, Gary Thomas, Portland Green, Jonathan Patkowski. Chaired by Rose Cupit, Senior Manager, Film London Performing identities: Laura Castagnini, Ayanna Dozier, Rachel Garfield, Diana Smith. Chaired by Lucy Reynolds Modernism and Historiography: Inga Fraser and Alessandra Ferrini. Chaired by Erika Balsom 4.15pm Break 4.35-6pm Presentations by artists George Barber, Nina Danino, Lindsay Seers, Smadar Dreyfus. Chaired by Gareth Evans, Adjunct Film Curator, Whitechapel Gallery. Followed by a Q&A Saturday 7 November. 11.30am - 7pm 11.30am Welcome and Introduction by Omar Kholeif 11.40am Keynote by TJ Demos, Professor, History of Art and Visual Culture, University of California, Santa Cruz 12.20pm James Boaden, Department of History of Art, University of York. Archives and Anachronisms in Queer Artists� Moving Image 12.40pm Shanay Jhaveri, Writer and Curator. On Sonia Khurana 1pm Panel discussion with TJ Demos, James Boaden, Shanay Jhaveri, chaired by Michele Pierson. Followed by Q&A 1.30pm Break 2.30pm In conversation between Ben Cook, Director LUX, Omar Kholeif and Sarah Perks, Artistic Director, HOME, Manchester. Followed by Q&A 3.15pm Exhibition Histories and Curatorial Practice Presentations by Steven Cairns, Michael Maziere, Duncan Reekie, Andrew Vallance. Followed by Q&A 4.45pm Break 5.15pm - 7pm Presentations by artist and theorist Kodwo Eshun and critic and curator Ed Halter. Followed by panel discussion chaired by Erika Balsom