Presentation at the conference The Video Essay Université de Paris, 14-15. October 2021 ///

Picking up on the psychoanalytical concept of accidental parapraxis my paper will discuss video essays as laboratories for experiments with uncertain outcome. As I want to argue the video essay is less of interest as a popular presentation format for pre-existing knowledge (that could also be presented in other media form) but more as a research tool in its own right that can render perceptible of what is yet unknown, and unfinished business in the media object I am investigating.

This mode of experimental research also has ramifications for how to interact with technology (like film devices, screens, or editing software) not as neutral tools but as idiosyncratic and often stubborn agents which do not simply follow my orders but are also working against and ahead of me. By looking both at recent video essays of mine as well as at the video experiments I do with my students I want to outline a video essay practice as risky parapraxis.

#glitch #rheinberger #simondon #philosophyoftechnology #videoessayresearch