Oskar Chmioła / Works and actions

Performative Cinema Manifesto

Manifest kina performatywnego

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Oskar Chmioła’s manifesto, signed in Sopot on 25 July 2020. Its fifteen points propose cinema based on performers’ actions, the film crew’s visible participation, experimentation and co-authorship. It advocates reducing production hierarchies and costs, and treating filming as a performative situation. The complete Polish text and Maciej Bryńczak’s historical English translation constitute two separate source documents.

Date in the source: 2020-07-25
Place: Sopot
Oskar Chmioła’s role: text authorship

Full texts and documentation

Captions and credits remain in their source context. Group exhibition documentation is not automatically documentation solely of Oskar Chmioła’s works.

visual arts

Separate source record · chmiola.com

2020 — Performative Cinema Manifesto, Sopot
http://chmiola.com/manifest-kina-performatywnego/

Performative Cinema Manifesto

Separate source record · chmiola.com

Performative Cinema Manifesto

– let us move away from creating an illusion of truth and imitating reality, whether real or imagined,
towards truth itself; let us guide the viewer instead of deceiving them; let us abandon
the habit of fabricating reality and overusing cinematic fiction,

– let us replace actors with performers: people capable of presenting something authentically
in a way particular to themselves. Let us remember, however, that performers
do not have to be artists. Let us also understand that they can be actors who can use
their craft as a tool for their own expression,

– let us make camera operators, make-up artists, technicians and other crew members participants
who may, if they wish, make their presence felt and themselves be visible in the film while
they work,

– let us give every camera shot its own identity: let each camera operator be
a performer, and let every objective camera be recognisable as having been positioned by one of
them,

– let us recognise that shooting a film is an event that can be presented
to an audience as a performance, potentially even a SpaceTime Performance allowing them

– let us use performatives: utterances or expressions that establish
a state of affairs through the very act of being uttered. Let us initiate interaction with the viewer by
concealing and/or revealing things in the film that the viewer, as an active recipient, receives
on a mental level, for example as a promise or a puzzle to be solved after watching
the film, to be found in places shown in the film, and so on,

– let us ensure that low production budgets need not exclude creators from making films, and
let us finally recognise that the vast majority of film productions are, to a considerable extent,
a waste of time, energy, nerves, money and natural resources, and that it is possible to make
films more cheaply and no less interestingly if we stop trying to recreate and imitate
reality and instead try to show it by composing a work from appropriately isolated
contexts of real situations,

– let us understand that documentary is not the only kind of film that can record a real situation; this can
also be achieved in a narrative film,

– let us replace scenes with situations and screenplays with situational plans, to free those carrying out
their creative acts within them from the need for repeated takes and retakes; this
will make the work considerably easier, reduce production costs and allow creators to work meaningfully on
the depth of their creative expression,

– let us make use of the fact that communication consists only to a small degree of words; it also encompasses body language,
perfonemes, distinctive behaviours, cultural codes and the language of art. Let us not make
radio plays with talking heads illustrated by corpses and sex, but show something
valuable, such as human sensitivity that is difficult to express in words because another form of expression is proper to it. Let us enable non-speaking people to make films (this is not only about
using sign language in film), and more broadly, let us show the enormous potential contained in
such a paradigm shift: what it changes in the human understanding of the world, what it does to human
consciousness,

– let us treat experiments not as formal devices but as a strategy for deepening
substantive content,

– let us respect individual ways of working on a film; let creators experience
the problem or state that is the essence of their participation, instead of demanding
mental readiness and technical skills from them; let them engage
fully and independently with the work’s content. Let us create situational plans with a high tolerance for
chance factors and other variables. Let creators pursue their
creative journey during the making of the film, and let the film remain open-ended, with the possibility of continuation in
another,

– let us reduce the director’s role: instead of positioning people, let the director create possibilities, a context and
an overall situation, and maintain coherence in accordance with the vision and concept of the film,

– let us abandon hierarchical dictates and open ourselves to horizontal access to ideas
that allows this cinema to be redefined, just as performance has continually been redefined. Let
everyone working on a film be a creator, rather than a production employee.
Let us finally recognise that everyone can personally shape the direction in which this kind of cinema develops
by saying what it is, since it belongs to no one (in accordance with the idea of STP
SpaceTime Performance, and let us not be afraid to
develop a sense that making a film is a shared act of creation. Equally, let everyone
who makes this kind of cinema have the opportunity to shape and deepen its essence. What is
independent, such as performative cinema, will deal with falsehood on its own (a holy utopia),

– let us add further points here, but let them first be tested in practice.
Moreover, anyone may modify the earlier points if their content ever becomes
outdated. This is natural, because performative cinema has precisely this quality: it performs,
changes and transforms along with us, while remaining essentially the same — just such
an unfettered creation as we are…

Oskar Chmioła 25.07.2020, Sopot

PERFORMATIVE CINEMA MANIFESTO

Separate source record · chmiola.com

PERFORMATIVE CINEMA MANIFESTO

– let’s move away from creating an illusion of truth and imitating reality (true or imaginary) in favour of the truth itself, let’s lead the viewer instead of deceiving them, let’s get rid of the habit of concocting reality and overusing film fiction,

– let’s replace actors with performers, that is people who can present something authentically in a way specific to themselves. At the same time, let’s remember that performers don’t have to be artists. Moreover, let’s understand that they can be actors who can use their technique as a tool for their self-expression,

– let’s turn operators, make-up artists, technicians, and other producers into participants who can (if they wish so) mark their presence and be visible in the film during their work,

– let’s make each camera shot have its own identity, namely so each of the operators is a performer and each objective camera can be recognized as set by one of them,

– let us see that a film’s camerawork for a film is an event that can be presented to the public as a performance, and potentially even as a SpaceTime Performance, allowing them to co-create the film,

– let’s use performatives, that is statements or expressions that establish a state of affairs by the very fact of saying them. Let’s start the interaction with the viewer by hiding and/or revealing things in the movie that the viewer/active recipient receives on a mental plane, e.g., in the form of a promise or puzzle to be solved after watching the movie or to be found in places from the movie, etc.,

– let’s make sure that low production costs won’t have to exclude authors from making films and eventually note that the vast majority of film productions are largely a waste of time, energy, nerves, money, and natural resources and that it’s possible to make cheaper and no fewer interesting films if one will stop trying to recreate and imitate reality and instead try to show it by composing a piece made of appropriately separated contexts of real situations,

– let’s understand that not only a documentary can be a record of a real situation, since it can also be achieved in a feature film,

– let’s replace scenes with situations and scenarios with situational plans in order to free those who perform their creative acts in them from the necessity of multiple rehearsals and reshoots, which will significantly facilitate work, reduce production costs, and allow creators to really work on the depth of their creative expression,

– let’s discount the fact that words make up only a small portion of communication and that there is also body language, perfonemes, specific behaviours, cultural codes, or the language of art. Let’s not create talking heads radio plays illustrated with group sex, but instead let’s show something valuable, e.g., human sensitivity, which is difficult to express with words, because a different type of expression is more appropriate. Let’s allow nonspeaking people to create films (it’s not just about using sign language in a film) and let’s show how great a potential lies in such a paradigm shift, how much it changes the human understanding of the world and what it does with human consciousness,

– let’s not treat experiments as formal measures but as a strategy to deepen important content,

– let’s respect the individual way of working on the film, let’s allow the creators experience a problem or state that is the essence of their participation, instead of requiring them to be psychologically available and have workshop skills, let them fully independently deal with the content of their work. Let’s create situational plans with high tolerance to random factors and other variables. Let’s allow creators to follow their creative path during production and their films to have an open character, which may be continued in the next one,

– let’s reduce the role of the director; instead of setting people up, let them create opportunities, context, and general situation, and ensure consistency in line with the vision and concept of a given film

– let’s abandon the hierarchical dictate and open ourselves to horizontal ideological accessibility that allows us to redefine this cinema, just as performance is still redefined. Let every person working on a movie be a creator, not a production worker. Finally, let’s note that anyone can set the direction of development of this type of cinema by saying what it is because it is nobody’s property (according to the idea of STP or SpaceTime Performance), and let’s not be afraid to develop a feeling that filmmaking is a joint act of creation. And so, let everyone who creates such cinema have a possibility to shape its essence and deepen it. What is independent, such as, for example, performative cinema, will deal with false by itself (holy utopia),

– let’s add further points here, but let them first be verified in practice. Moreover, anyone can modify the previous points should their content become obsolete one day. It’s natural since performative cinema has exactly this feature that it performs, changes, and transforms with us, remaining essentially the same, namely just such an uninhibited creation like ourselves…

(Oscar Chmioła – “Performative Cinema Manifesto”, Sopot, 25.07.2020).

Translation Maciej Bryńczak.

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Harmonising dates, techniques and roles, and comparing with current sources, remain subject to verification.