Upcyclation
Workshops
The Method
Dělám workshopy v češtině i angličtině. Pro zjednodušení je představuji pouze v anglickém jazyce.
I facilitate workshops that focus on experimental film and photography using the principles of upcycling, recycling and sustainability. I use the word "facilitation" because in my work I embrace the idea that the final work is co-created not only by people, but also by the materials, plants, and environment in which we work... Unpredictability, deviation, and error are not a distortion of the authorial process, but an acknowledged principle of it. Therefore, all workshops are collective creations in which I try not to act as an authoritative leader, but rather as a traveler who has made some journeys and shows others what they may encounter on them.
I am drawing on the concept of "thing-power" introduced by Jane Bennett in her book Vibrant Matter. I believe that we can no longer succumb to the illusion of the sovereign authorship of man or even the individual. Therefore, the creative process always involves the matter we work with, the objects and materials that are not passive but actively enter and shape causal chains. My aim is not to "break" this agency, but rather to give it space. Together with the idea of co-creation, in which different communities and layers of collaborators come together, I extend the field of authorial collaboration to matter, so that I know - I am never alone. Not even in a darkroom, not even when I'm standing on a hill with my Old Standard Rolleiflex or Admira 8mm camera, observing silent nature.
In my work and workshops I stick to these principles:
- I minimize the use of automated or electrified processes, I emphasize hand process.
- I use ecological processes and chemistry as much as possible, preferring those based on the ascorbic acid and soda wherever possible (especially in workshops!).
- I use herbal developers using local biological material from the filming location. When collecting the material for the developers, I am respectful of nature and do not harm it.
- I use the principles of upcycling and recycling in my filming and re-evaluate old equipment, repair my cameras or create new ones from old ones, preferring expired material for my own work (film stock, film papers etc.).
- Even if for the success of the workshop I am sometimes forced to neglect some of the above principles (e.g. by using newer material to reduce the risk of failure of the collective production), I reflect on this and discuss it with others.
"Co-creation offers alternatives to a single-author vision, and involves a constellation of media production methods, frameworks, and feedback systems. In co-creation, projects emerge out of process, and evolve from within communities and with people, rather than being made for or about them. Co-creation spans across and beyond disciplines and organizations and can also involve non-human or beyond human systems." K. Cizek & W. Uricchio, Collective Wisdom, p. 19.
I design, develop and produce workshops as part of the events of the art group Dílo, of which I am a member. They are often encapsulated in performances and form an organic whole. If you are interested in organizing one of the workshops, it will be Dílo that will be your production partner.
Remember: you are never creating alone.
Material Encounters in 8mm Cine
Camera, film stock, videotape, computer, projector—these are usually the tools an artist uses to achieve creative goals. She learns to master them, to control them, in order to tame the reality she records with them. The subject uses these objects to express himself. And so does the urban space in which we work. At best, it is a backdrop for our lives; at worst, a malleable mass for reshaping our environment according to our will. But how can the vibrant matter around us speak and participate in the message of who we are and where we are?
This workshop offers a collective filmmaking project that will serve as an imprint of a shared journey through the city to the park and back. We will invite artifacts, both plant and non-plant materials to contribute to the work. Following Jane Bennett’s ideas, we will dilute the subjectivity of decision-making process and will allow uncontrollable factors to enter into it: the effects of the „urban minestrone“ we will develop the film with, old technology, expired material. Following the current movement in alternative photography and filmmaking that emphasizes upcycling, recycling, and the use of plant materials, we will expand the creative collective to include non-human artists with whom we will create an experimental film accompanied by automated music. This will be screened in the evening.
The workshop includes a journey through the city to the park and back, recruiting non-human co- authors, filming with half-century- old 8 mm/ Super 8 cameras on expired negative material, and developing the footage. A discussion and other hand-made film inspired workshop activities will be included.
The workshop consists of a short introduction to the analogue 8mm camera (I use a 1950s Admira for the workshop), followed by an active walk around the city collecting visual and natural material, followed by a collective development in a plant developer from herbs found along the way, soda and ascorbic acid work.
It lasts approximately 3–4 hours, then it takes some time for the film material to dry. It could be either screened afterwards from 8mm projector at the place of the event, or just shared in a digitalised form (YouTube, download). In case of interest, the workshop can be enriched by editing the filmed and dried material using the handmade film method, but then you need to count about one extra hour.
All of the workshop films are collective artwork which I prefer to make publicly available under CC–NY–BC licence.
Workshop Material Encounters on the Collective Journey of Authorship, 28. 2. 2025, Brno CZ
Photos from workshop: Ivan Petráš. I thank DF JAMU for permission to use them.
Phytograms
For modern artists, photography and film have become symbols of human progress. But at great cost: these highly toxic modes of creation have contributed to the plundering of natural resources. And yet: when the last man disappears from the face of the planet, plants will be photographed. The leaves of the pennyroyal will create anthotypes under the scorching glare of the sun, the chemical reactions in the greenery of wild clover will expose their structure, the goldenrod will decorate the remains of industrial material. In the workshop we will learn about the ecological unsustainability of both classical and digital photography and the role it has played in objectifying the world around us, and attempt to assess its legacy by returning to its roots, to sustainable practices, to biodegradable photographic production - and to establish a new, dialogical relationship with plants that will no longer be merely depicted objects, but partners in creation.
The workshop is part of the Young Prince performance art group's Dílo. It was presented for the first time on 13 October 2024 at HaDivadlo (Brno), then at the Scout Institute Rybárna in Prague on 25 January 2025.
One of my phytograms, 2024
The workshop lasts about one hour and is introduced by a short lecture on the ecological damage of traditional and digital photography and the possibilities of sustainable, alternative photography. Participants can bring their own plant material, which is then printed onto expired photo paper (I mainly use old Foma and Adox papers) adapting a method developed by Karel Doing. The papers dry for another hour or two, after which the participants can take them home.
Photos from workshop: Anna Černá. I thank ...příští vlna/next wave... for permission to use them.