In 2024, etc. gallery announces an open call for RESIDENCY for artists, curators, theorists or academics who focus on theoretical or practical research and production of the moving image. From more than 50 entries, a committee consisting of gallery curators Nela Klajbanová and Sára Märc and artist and teacher Bára Mrázková selected two winning projects:

ZAHER JUREIDINI: RESISTING ERASURE: VISUAL HISTORIES

Exploring the power dynamics of narrative preservation through moving images, this research focuses on how marginalized stories from Arab and Palestinian cultures are maintained and reclaimed amidst dominant colonial narratives. The study examines historical and contemporary visual documentation, ranging from early colonial footage to modern imagery, while emphasizing the role of Arab and Palestinian artists and filmmakers in resisting cultural erasure. Recognizing that the act of filming in the region can be a deeply political act, the research delves into various forms of moving images to shed light on the complexities of truth-telling and the portrayal of identity in the context of systemic erasure.

Zaher Jureidini is a Lebanese cinematographer based in Prague where he earned his master’s degree in Cinematography at The Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (FAMU). Zaher’s work encompasses a range of themes, from social and political narratives to diverse artistic expressions. He specializes in shooting various types of visual projects, including short films, music videos, art videos, and commercials. Most notably, Zaher’s cinematography work includes the short film Sea Salt (2023) which premiered at the 80th Venice Film Festival and earned him the Best Cinematography Award at the FILMAY Short Film Festival Kumanovo in North Macedonia. Beyond cinematography, Zaher is also involved in curatorial work, film theory and research.

JÁCHYM ŠIDLÁK: EREMOS: CINEMA AND THE SLOW LOSS OF HUMANITY

Eremos: Cinema and the Slow Loss of Humanity is an audio-visual essay that affirmatively dives into the darkness captured by the Greek word “eremos” — wasteland not intended for man, abandoned wilderness. The essay appropriates, bends and synthesizes footage from the films Notes from Eremocene (2023, dir. Viera Čákanyová) and Sleep Has Her House (2017, dir. Scott Barley). Its aim is not only to describe, but directly follow their affective dimension, embodying the melancholy of the loss of human perspective. In the video essay, an account of personal experience with these films becomes a driving force creating parallels between the two artworks and at the same time a stimulus for reflection on the meaning of situated experience for film criticism.

Jáchym Šidlák is currently completing his studies at the Department of Film Studies at Charles University in Prague, which prompted his interest in moving images expanding into uncertain futures, planetary or microscopic scales, and in the spheres of post-humanism, post-cinema and all post-things in general. Meanwhile, post-ironically, he spends his days (and sometimes nights) working in the cinema, with occasional critical writing, editing audiovisual essays or organizing open ecological seminars titled Klíčení.