“The Celluloid Life of the Laboratory: Science Film and the Arts” will be an essay film which examines the complex history of the science film and its influence on video art and experimental film. The essay film will trace the historical development of science film in its plurality, starting with the first microscopical recordings from the end of the 19th century up until today’s film and video documentation of scientific experiments as well as the numerous popular science productions in film and TV. The essay film itself will by styled as a popular science film and constructed according to the dramaturgic rules of this genre. Fragments and quotes from science films from the beginning of the 20th century up until today will allow the spectator to experience the historical development of the genre, its filmic language as well as its aesthetic and stylistic characteristics.

Lioudmila Voropai is a curator, art critic and media artist. She studied philosophy at the Russian State University for Humanities (RGGU) in Moscow and media art at the Academy of Media Arts in Cologne. As a media artist and curator, she is mainly concerned with the problematic of institutional critique and fake as an artistic strategy.