trees are people too

A reflection on the Lumiere manifesto. This seems like quite a puritan approach to me, although that might also indicate a suspicion and avoidance of pleasure, and I do not think this is the idea.

Rather, it is not just the method of creating the videos, but also of considering, involving your audience that creates a Lumiere experience. The Lumiere manifesto changes the way viewers (or shall we say viewer, as these videos are designed to be watched alone) interpret the art by forcing them to engage, to dedicate some of themselves to it.

Initially the Lumiere manifesto seems inherently one-sided, biased towards the filmmakers wants and reliant on their perspective, but the manifesto also argues that the film cannot become meaningful, will not resonate, unless the viewers invests themselves in it. This is done by keeping the technical constraints extremely rigid, resigning the video to a simplified consciousness of the medium it is portrayed in – it plays, it stops, you watch it. By keeping the piece pure, simple, clean and uncluttered as such, confining it to a space we can all recognise (but which alone possesses no meaning), the video should be accessible to all active, consenting viewers. A Lumiere video – spontaneous, reflexive – juxtaposes an unadulterated, almost natural, view of the world, but with the attributes of a technology that is completely the opposite. The viewer cannot choose but to consider these elements.

The Lumiere manifesto argues that effects, zooms, audio, edits all distract the viewer. They create meaning, direct narrative, steer the piece. In turn, the viewer becomes idle, pedestrians, not participants. They become readerly. The creator’s perspective becomes the dominant and inescapable paradigm.

And this is what makes Lumiere writerly. A piece that is so simple allows you to ask, demand something of your audience. It becomes a two way transition (should the viewer consent to participation) and each transition with the video, each transaction will be different to the last.

This lends itself so beautifully to the online video environment, in which the video can be disseminated endlessly but with each viewing remaining one on one, personal and private. As such, everyone with a computer can access Lumiere – not just the interpretive, philosophical properties, but the physical also.

Unstructured and spontaneous, yet simple, clean, almost natural. These are the concepts I keep coming back to.