Because Seeing is Doing. The Project Espectadores/Creadores and the Cinematographic Reception Theory

Abstract

Activities from the project Espectadores/Creadores. Encuentros interartísticos en torno
a una pantalla are reviewed in the light of theories around aesthetic reception, and especially
those referring to the cinematographic spectator. Sometimes, this one, conceived as a viewer or
an audience, is among the main objects of study in contemporary studies in cinematography. In
the last three decades, these theories have questioned the supposed passivity of the receiver
and explored his/her role in the constitution of an aesthetic experience. The conception of the
viewer as an active entity is the theoretical ground on which the project Espectadores/Creadores
was built. Therefore, creators, from different artistic and professional disciplines are gathered to
choose and publicly present films that dialogue with their creative concerns and even those that
have motivated a creative process. The different authors position themselves as spectators that
share with the public –also spectators– the event of seeing a movie. From this experience, they
are able to rethink the production processes of meaning in which they participate. In this way,
they give an account of how a way of seeing (that of the participating creators) leads to a way of
doing (the productions in dialogue with the film works presented); the sessions become a
privileged opportunity for the examination of the spectatorial agency.