Tikka, Pia
Enactive Cinema
Simulatorium Eisensteinense
100099
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Enactive Cinema: Simulatorium Eisensteinense explores the psychophysiological grounds from which the experience of cinema emerges. It follows the traces left by Sergei M. Eisenstein, the Russian filmmaker and researcher of the pre-digital age, whose visions on organic-dynamic thinking carry implications for new kinds ofinteractive cinema even today. The method of parachronic reading extrapolates Eisenstein's thinking, embedded in his contemporary scientifically-oriented era, to the discoveries of the 21st century neurosciences. It is claimed that, in particular, the finding of mirror neuron networks, i.e., built-in sensorimotor-based imitation systems, has consequences for cinema, enabling a neurophysiological explanation for authoring cinema as a socio-emotional simulation system of the other. The novel concept of enactive cinema is introduced: an interactive cinematic montage system in which the narrative flow follows the unconscious psychophysiological enactment of the spectator, as a dynamical abstraction of the mirroring system. The enactive cinema project Obsession (2005) demonstrates such a system in practice. Enactive Cinema implies reconsidering the role of the author. With the notion of second-order authorship, the focus is shifted from the conventional idea of explicit linear control over the cinematic narrative to designing the cinematic artifact as a complex dynamical system with emergent behavior. The book includes a dvd: Obsession by Pia Tikka.