The Aegina Academy, A Forum for Art and Science: Light/Image/Illusion (review)

The Aegina Academy, a cultural forum for art and science, was founded by the Austrian artists Gustav Deutsch and Hanna Schimek, with the aim to "contribute to the promotion of independent and critical dealings with media, thus taking a step in the direction of democratising the media" (Schimek and Deutsch, press release). In the background of their pioneering film work, Deutsch and Schimek opened up their private laboratory on the beautiful island Aegina not only to the public, inhabitants and Greek artists and scientists, but also to invited scientists and artists of international standing, allowing them to participate in a discussion and exhibition forum, contained in a cultural project called the Aegina Academy. First realized in 2003 with the topic Light/Image/Reality, the Aegina Academy followed up its debut with a theme focused on the interrelation among light, image and illusion, comprising a symposium, public lectures, art-education projects and workshops, exhibitions and film screenings. This review gives a brief overview of the

Aegina Academy by situating its theme within the wider framework of Gustav Deutsch and Hanna Schimek's work.

Light/Image/Illusion opened with an exhibition cycle and lectures by neuroscientist Richard L. Gregory and pre-cinema specialist Werner Nekes at the Goethe-Institut in Athens. In the following symposium in Aegina, organized by philosopher Fay Zika, international specialists from the disciplines of art education, art history, philosophy, media and film studies, and natural and social sciences (especially psychology, neuroscience and computer science) pointed out various related aspects such as the psychological and physiological preconditions of perception (see, for example, the work of Freeman, Kubaczek, Pircher, Venieri and Vidnyánszky), veridical representation and fictional construction as in virtual reality or other new media environments ( Jahrmann, Klett and Sarris) and an emphasis on art education and perspectives on the history of technologies of optics and media art (Hyman, Peternak, Punt, Santorinaios and Zielinski). With a strong emphasis on philosophy, art education and neuropsychology, the symposium encouraged a stimulating discussion forum in a small but highly specialized community with outreaches to the public via several art educational and exhibition projects, public lectures and guided tours. A fuller account of the symposium and events at the Aegina Academy can be found at <www.light-image.net>.

The Aegina Academy emerged from a generous gesture by an individual artist and is a reflection of Deutsch's energy in his creative work with the film medium and his exploration of public interfaces. Originally trained as an architect, Deutsch became an independent filmmaker in the late 1980s and is often mentioned in the context of the contemporary Austrian avant-garde. His work, however, eludes any clear categorization and stands out through its originality and particularity, consisting as it does entirely of early film footage. This material is thoroughly researched by Deutsch and Schimek, and they have become familiar faces in film archives around the world, where they mostly seem to disappear behind huge piles of reels. Deutsch's films investigate the very mechanisms of cinema and perception, commenting on the artistic expressions of the intrinsic qualities of the medium. This approach is most clearly exemplified in the series Film ist., which can be interpreted as a deconstruction of film in terms of language and movement. As Tom Gunning has pointed out in his article "Film ist. A Primer for a Visual World," this project can be defined as the first film theory on film [1]. It now becomes clear, however, that Deutsch and Schimek have ambitions that lie beyond the mere deconstruction of movement and time or an analysis of the interrelation between image and language in the cinematographic experience.

This becomes most apparent in their work in Aegina, in particular in Deutsch's camera obscura in Perdika, which is an integrated work of art embedded in the landscape and culture in a gentle and modest way characteristic of Deutsch and Schimek's film work...