Making DOCUVERSE – A symposium for expanded documentary & beyond

Kim Munro, Franzi Weidle, Nicholas Hansen, Hannah Brasier

From the static, fixed objects of analogue film and video, documentary is now redefining itself as a fluid, collaborative, shape-shifting, responsive environment for encounters we call open space documentary. The spaces invoked in these works are open to many iterations, communities and engagements, rather than closed deductive arguments.

Helen De Michiel and Patricia R. Zimmerman 2013

installation

locative

VR

participatory/interactive

site specific/audio

Franzi Weidle

EXPANDED FIELDHannah Brasier

Non-linear Interactive Essay

EXPANDED FIELD

art/documentary hybrid essayembodiment

industry

interactive non-narrative

experimental

visual anthropology

ethnography

media/journalismdocumentary

PLANNING THE SYMPOSIUM What was the symposium, and how did it take place?

Call for Contributions

The Docuverse Symposium will focus on individual documentary projects and their take on theory and practice, with the aim to facilitate critical discussions amongst different postgraduate makers and thinkers in the field. By addressing these issues, we wish to constitute an interdisciplinary platform for debate on the matter of expanded documentary theories and practices in Australasia with the aim to establish an ongoing meet-up group to foster practitioners in the area.

Docuverse Mission Statement

Docuverse began as a symposium and is now an ongoing bimonthly forum for the discussion of the intersection between theory, practice and industry in the expanded field of documentary. Our aim is to primarily show interactive, participatory, essayistic, installation and locative creative works (either finished or in progress) and explore how these practices challenge what documentary can be and do. Docuverse is part of the non/fiction Lab at RMIT.

THE SYMPOSIUMDisplaying & discussing expanded documentary projects

John Hughes’s presentation at the Docuverse symposium

12 Feb 2016 | Docuverse Symposium | Photos by Kim Munro | Slides by Crystal Abidin & Hannah Brasier

“I think being on the fringe allows for more exploration and experimentation, it doesn’t impose such fixed formats or boundaries on work. Multiple technologies can be employed and stories can be told in many different ways. Creative freedom is good and it would be nice if people would get paid for their work.”

Jess Linington at Docuverse Symposium

Docuverse Symposium debriefPhotos by Nicholas Hansen

BEYOND THE SYMPOSIUM Bi-monthly forums & ongoing challenges

SNAPSHOTS #1: a work-in-progress screening

SNAPSHOTS #2: a talk by Judith Aston

Successes of our Snapshot events

CHALLENGES

1. reaching a

wider audience

2. inclusive to this

audience

3. generating

conversation

4. creating a

space to make projects

How do we continue to make this an accessible group which grows and attracts expertise in expanded documentary production?WorkshopsFuture production hub SymposiumFestival/EventsInternational guest speakers