Article:

Kunst – Künste, Medium – Medien: Film als zentrale Instanz. Ein Debattenbeitrag zum Verhältnis von Kunst und Medienwissenschaft

It is quite noticeable for any frequent reader how often the words «medium» and «art» are used in texts about films; not less obvious, however, is the fact that these words and their relation to films lack a proper definition. There seems to be no agreement about if and when a film is a medium or art and what this entails. Just as unclear is the term «film» itself. In many cases it's used as a synonym for «cinema», in others the aim is to differentiate between both terms; a coherent and logical approach is missing. The text proposes to understand films as audiovisual moving images and therefore as the central authority for a negotiation between the four fields medium, media, art, and arts the definition of which is the key issue of this article.