Whether you call it collage, compilation, found footage, détournement, or recycled cinema, the incorporation of already existing media into new artworks is a practice that generates novel juxtapositions and new meanings and ideas, often in ways entirely unrelated to the intentions of the original makers. Such new works are, in other words, “inappropriate.” This act of (in)appropriation may even produce revelations about the relationship between past and present, here and there, intention and subversion, artist and critic, not to mention the "producer" and "consumer" of visual culture itself. Fortunately for our purposes, the past decade has witnessed the emergence of a wealth of new audiovisual elements available for appropriation into new works. In addition to official state and commercial archives, resources like vernacular collections, home movie repositories, and digital archives now also provide fascinating material to repurpose in ways that lend it new meaning and resonance.

Founded in 2009, the Festival of (In)appropriation is a yearly showcase of contemporary, short (20 minutes or less), audiovisual works that appropriate existing film, video, or other media and repurpose it in “inappropriate” and inventive ways. The show is curated by Jaimie Baron, Lauren Berliner, and Greg Cohen.

Stockholm Experimental and Animation Film Festival, SEAFF, will present highly recognized artists and directors from the international scene as well as new and emerging independent artists, filmmakers and storytellers. Our first Edition will be held att Bio Rio, one of the finest and oldest Cinemas in Stockholm, founded 1943.

We are looking for filmmakers who exploit the potential of the medium to conjure and process the experiences of the world and who have an artistic ability to portray the spiritual knowledge of the same. This requires no theme of content and form. We accept narrative and none narrative film, video art, computer animation (2D & 3D), traditional animation and stop-motion animation on any topic, from every country around the world.

On the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the London Filmmakers’ Cooperative (LFMC) and the fortieth anniversary of London Video Arts (now LUX), articles are invited that reflect upon the histories, contexts and legacies of artists’ film and video practices in Britain since 1966. Both organisations played a significant role in the development of the distinctive and diverse artists’ moving image culture experienced in the UK today. This double issue of MIRAJ marks these anniversaries in order to draw forth new scholarship and research in a vital field of study and practice. This issue will be guest edited by Benjamin Cook and Lucy Reynolds.