Katerina Cizek

Katerina Cizek, Portrait of the artist, 2011. Photo: Jamie Hogge.

Live Performance of UNIVERSE WITHIN at Hot Docs, in Toronto, on April 29, 2015. Photo: Taku Kumabe, courtesy of Hot Docs.

Katerina Cizek, Portrait of the artist, 2011. Photo: Jaime Hogge.

Katerina Cizek, Photograph of the artist, 2011. Photo: Courtesy of the artist.

Screenshot from UNIVERSE WITHIN: Lives in the Global Highrise, 2015. Photo: Courtesy of HIGHRISE and The National Film Board of Canada.

Pioneer in participatory and interactive documentary production

About the Residency

At MIT, artist Katerina Cizek collaborated with the Open Documentary Lab to develop the newest phase of her project, HIGHRISE: Digital Citizenship, which investigates how new communication and media technologies are reshaping the personal lives, political practices and citizenship claims of highrise residents. The project demonstrates how the documentary process can drive social innovation, rather than simply document it.

Cizek joined Andrew Lowenthal, Open Documentary Lab Fellow and Executive Director of EngageMedia; Mandy Rose, Associate Professor and Director of the Digital Cultures Research Centre, University of West England, Bristol UK; and Ethan Zuckerman, Director of the Center for Civic Media and principal research scientist at the MIT Media Lab; for a panel discussion titled “The Art, Ethics and Technology of Documentary Co-Creation.” Panelists new forms of media, networks and devices emerge throughout history, documentarians are always at the forefront of discovering how to tell stories with them. From the first newsreels, to the latest Virtual Reality installations, non-fiction creators are the first to introduce their audiences and users to novel ways of interacting, immersing and collaborating in new environments while interpreting reality. How can these new technologies change the documentary creator’s relationship to the “people formerly known as subjects”? How can new models of co-creation redefine not just the form of the story itself but the methods by which we create them? How can documentaries be made “with” people instead of “about” them? This panel examines the history and potential for documentarians to co-create with citizens, social scientists, technologists and performing artists, with the aim to both create artful meaning and foster concrete political action.

Presented by the MIT Center for Art, Science and Technology (CAST) and the MIT Open Documentary Lab.

Schedule

Past Events

The Art, Ethics and Technology of Documentary Co-Creation
March 18, 2015 / 5:00pm
The Landau Building, 66-110
25 Ames Street

Katerina Cizek, Documentary Director and MIT Visiting Artist
Andrew Lowenthal, Open Documentary Lab Fellow and Executive Director of EngageMedia
Mandy Rose, Associate Professor and Director of the Digital Cultures Research Centre, University of West England, Bristol UK
Ethan Zuckerman, Director of the Center for Civic Media and principal research scientist at the MIT Media Lab

As new forms of media, networks and devices emerge throughout history, documentarians are always at the forefront of discovering how to tell stories with them. From the first newsreels, to the latest Virtual Reality installations, non-fiction creators are the first to introduce their audiences and users to novel ways of interacting, immersing and collaborating in new environments while interpreting reality. How can these new technologies change the documentary creator’s relationship to the “people formerly known as subjects”? How can new models of co-creation redefine not just the form of the story itself but the methods by which we create them? How can documentaries be made “with” people instead of “about” them? This panel examines the history and potential for documentarians to co-create with citizens, social scientists, technologists and performing artists, with the aim to both create artful meaning and foster concrete political action.

Workshop with Katarina Cizek and HIGHRISE
March 19, 2015 / 10:00-11:30am
MIT Media Lab, 6th Floor
For MIT Community Members

The final iteration of the National Film Board of Canada’s HIGHRISE, called UNIVERSE WITHIN: Digital Lives in the Global Highrise, will be releasing on-line this spring, Prior to launch, Kat and the team will be staging a live performance at Hot Docs, the largest Documentary Festival in North America. Please join us to workshop the idea, to bring the story to the stage and screen, using fiction and non-fiction, improvised live theatre, interview and recorded documentary.

Prior to launch of the final iteration of HIGHRISE, the National Film Board of Canada will stage live performance. Katerina Cizek workshops how to bring the story to the stage and screen using fiction and non-fiction, improvised theatre, interview and recorded documentary. Join us to workshop the idea using fiction and non-fiction, improvised live theatre, interview and recorded documentary.

Residency Schedule

The Art, Ethics and Technology of Documentary Co-Creation
Panel with Kat Cizek, Andrew Lowenthal, Mandy Rose and Ethan Zuckerman
March 18, 2015 / 5:00pm

Workshop with Katarina Cizek and HIGHRISE
March 19, 2015 / 10:00-11:30am

Participatory and Interactive Documentary Workshop
January 27-30, 2014

Class Visits
October 2-4, 2013

Collaborators at MIT

Scot Osterweil, Creative Director of the Education Arcade and a research director in the MIT Comparative Media Studies/Writing Program

William Uricchio, Professor of Comparative Media Studies; Principal Investigator, MIT Open Documentary Lab and MIT Game Lab

Sarah Wolozin, Director, MIT Open Documentary Lab

Biography

An innovative storyteller who works across many media platforms, Katerina Cizek is currently directing the National Film Board of Canada’s HIGHRISE, a multi-media project on life in residential skyscrapers in suburbs around the world.

Katerina Cizek is an Emmy-winning documentary director working across many media platforms: digital media, broadcasting (radio and television), print and live presentations/installations. Her work has documented the Digital Revolution, and has itself become part of the movement. As a filmmaker-in-residence, she has helped redefine the National Film Board of Canada as one of the world’s leading digital content hubs for community-based and globally recognized documentary.

More at the artist’s website: Katerina Cizek.