Article:

Der Kurzfilm als (kleines) Format

The short film is still neglected in the academic context for reasons of its elusiveness, both in the theoretical and practical sense. If one understands the short film as a "format" according to how David Joselit develops the concept in After Art, the research perspective shifts from the individual film as an object of analysis to questions of circulation, reception and the discourse-historical positioning of short films between art and cinema. In his concept of format, the US-American art historian does not think in terms of an individual object of art, but rather defines an artwork’s format as a network that on various levels – from production to reception – creates relationships between the artwork and its environment under the conditions of its circulation. Taking as an example a trilogy of short films by James N. Kienitz Wilkins which deal with the power and currency of circulating images (Special Features (USA 2014), Tester (USA 2015), B-Roll with Andre (USA 2015)), the article briefly shows how significant Joselit’s concept of format is for an analysis of short films.