Agnieszka: Hello Everyone! It is so nice to be here. Feel free to ask about the presentation
Lars: Thanks for the presentation. I was wondering what are the intended sizes and audiences for this – how do you address them specifically?
Agnieszka: Thanks for the question. Indeed, it depends on various matters – for example the city of the planned exhibition, the gallery cooperating with us etc. In general, we distinguish two kinds of viewers: those who remember the films/animations on the screen and their children.
So, it is obvious that whole families will visit, as we aim at organizing open and accessible exhibitions and in fact the size and audience depends on the marketing we create around.
Lars: so nostalgia for one, and interactivity for the other?
Agnieszka: Yes, and also big brands – who doesn’t want to experience being close to GiTS costumes? We are aware that very often the viewers know next to nothing about cyberpunk but just recognize the objects as “movie/animation-related”
Sasha: Hi Agnieszka, I enjoyed your presentation. I was particularly interested in your discussion of the ways in which object placement within the museum can create a certain narrative of the future. I was wondering if you could say more about that, particularly about the politics of it?
Agnieszka: Hi, Sasha, thanks for the question. Here, it is connected to interactivity mentioned by Lars. For example, organizing the exhibition we can simply put the objects on the walls (it can also work in certain cases) or create the entire space – design and invite the viewer to travel in time to the “near future”. for example, we can build additional walls, use specially designed mannequins (i.e. with or black faces)
Agnieszka: And when it comes to placement of the object, it is crucial how to we play with certain sections, i.e. what is next to what; how we proceed from the section about body metamorphosis to dystopia
Sasha: Thanks, inviting the viewer to travel to the near future sounds fantastic. I saw in your bio that you also recently published a book on Japanese Cyberpunk film. I was curious about which films/directors you look at? I’ve been looking at Sogo Ishii and Shozin Fukui in my own work
Agnieszka: Sure, Ishii and Fukui are important for the avant-garde-related cyberpunk. I dedicated some chapters to Tsukamoto (of course, THE father), and live-action films of the 90s. On ResearchGate there are more of my cyberpunk and Japanese cinema papers (a lot of them in English) – feel free to download. You can also write to me on RG, if I can help with additional research material
Sasha: Thanks, I’ll be sure to check them out!
Emily: Thanks for your talk – really enjoyed it – Would love to see this exhibition in the UK
Agnieszka: I hope for it, someday
Marcia: Enjoyed the talk! I was wondering, what was your favorite item that did not get included in the collection, and why did it not make the cut?
Agnieszka: Hmm, Marcia, difficult question. I would say that it is sometimes difficult to exhibit enough (in my opinion) props and costumes. Sometimes it is necessary to cut some mannequins to produce more space for animation art
Lars: Are you doing an accompanying program with films and talks?
Agnieszka: For now on we were focused on the exhibition and accompanying keynote lectures but films are also possible. Still, we come back to the first question about the space – it all depends where we land.
Lars: If I can manage something in Hamburg, I will be in touch
Agnieszka: One thing we try to avoid is “educating” about cyberpunk – you know, workshops for children coloring androids – we don’t think it is necessary (but of course, it can change some time). Lars – of course, I love Hamburg – we are already ready and packed
Thanks for all questions! I assume that my highlight time is over. If you are interested in more, please use my email (at the end of the presentation) or the Research Gate account (my name).