Special Works School
‘Special Works School’ was the codename used by the British War Office between 1917-1919 for a group of artists tasked with the job of ‘camoufleur’ - painters, textile artists, scenographers, designers, sculptors and scenic painters who were employed by the military to work specifically on developing camouflage technology. The artist, armed with the skill of rendering their surroundings with utmost acuity, was appointed to remove things from the realm of perception. Bambitchell’s ’Special Works School’ takes its name from this military unit to investigate the connections between artistic practice and surveillant technologies. With this video, the duo ask what an overtly aesthetic approach to surveillance can render visible, or invisible. By framing surveillance as an aesthetic practice, ‘Special Works School’ hones in on the psychic, embodied and material dimensions of surveillance - both from the position of the surveillor and the surveilled.
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Sharlene Bamboat Director · Rita Macedo Cinematographer
United States release May 4, 2018 · Produced in Canada, Germany, United Kingdom · Production Gallery TPW
Production
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada
Production
Gallery TPW
Production
Canada · Germany · United Kingdom
Produced in
Languages
Original language
English
Spoken on screen
English
Release dates
Canada · January 13, 2018
Premiere · Gallery TPW
United States · May 4, 2018
Limited theatrical · Union Docs
Germany
February 15, 2018 · Limited theatrical · Berlinale
Serbia
August 31, 2018 · Limited theatrical · Videomedeja
Türkiye
May 2, 2020 · Digital · Istanbul International Experimental Film Festival
United Kingdom
October 10, 2018 · Limited theatrical · BFI London Film Festival
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