Distribution as Political Action: An investigation of the production, promotion and distribution of feminist time-based/durational performative art pr

The proposed project is a practice-based investigation of the feminist film distributors Circles and Cinenova (Circles became Cinenova after acquiring Cinema of Women's catalogue). I will undertake archival and empirical research into the works they distributed and the practitioners who placed their work with them. I will also produce my own art works as a means of research through making, employing media used by Circles/Cinenova members such as 16mm, Super8, tape/slide, VHS, cassette tape and performance, while also responding to the thematic concerns of Circles/Cinenova members. This practical element aims to interrogate the impact changes in technology, economics, feminism, and society had on the work of Circles/Cinenova members. I will focus on three stages of the organisation's history, specifically the beginning of Circles as a volunteer-run organisation, Circles as a professional film distributor and its transition into Cinenova and Cinenova's de-funding and subsequent continuation as a volunteer-run organisation. I will concentrate particularly on Circles' early work of promoting and disseminating difficult-to-distribute media, their later commitment to the promotion and distribution of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) women's films and videos, and Cinenova's current commitment both to keeping their archive accessible and to continuing to promote the historical work in their collection alongside new work by women moving image artists.
This project will build upon the research I have already undertaken on the topic for my MRes Art: Moving Image dissertation, Circles: An Investigation of Women's Work in Distribution. Since graduating in 2013, I have continued my research in this area through practice, making moving image and performance works which are in dialogue with my written dissertation by utilising various media used by Circles/Cinenova members. These works also respond to thematic concerns of Circles/Cinenova members such as women's health, mental health, work and formalism. For example, I shot Lost Time (2014) on Super 8 using in-camera editing. The film focuses on the texture of celluloid, mirroring sensual pleasures, such as a hand running over rough bark and a foot treading through crisp leaves, with the experience of watching the granular texture of the Super-8 film itself. In Tower/Garden (2017), (a 35mm slide projection with digital soundtrack) the key themes explored are social cleansing, gentrification, the housing crisis, mental health and zero-hours contracts. In Breaking Point, (2018) (performance), tensions between the domestic and the work space, creation and destruction, and the serious and the absurd are at the forefront of the work. In the performance I precariously stacked crockery on the edges of plinths and the top edge of the MDF walls within the space, culminating in most of the items being broken.