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Talks by Matthew Hawkins

In this presentation Rabikowska and Hawkins will discuss the results of their interdisciplinary r... more In this presentation Rabikowska and Hawkins will discuss the results of their interdisciplinary research praxis in one urban community of South East London, which gave foundation to a theoretical discussion on the intellectual and political underpinnings of researching community and creativity. As a leader of a local community group, Rabikowska analyses the dynamics of internal relations between its members and the links with the diverse local population in the area. As a filmmaker Hawkins works in the same environment, which provides creative scripts and real settings to his films , which in turn become part of the life of the community.

In this presentation Rabikowska and Hawkins will critique the modernist take on multiculturalism and creativity as those inventions of modernity which contributed to a democratic project of ‘diverse homogeneity’ on the one hand and commercialisation of imagination on the other. They will look into the modernist traditions of liberalism and identity which have been well adapted in the last two decades as the tools of technocratic argumentation in the discourse of neo-liberal politics in the UK. While looking into a “conflictual” (Chantal Mouffe) nature of community relations, they will argue that peaceful co-existence of community members in a diverse metropolis is not possible, and as a political concept it is saturated by pragmatism and rationalism inherited from the utopian ethos of postivist school of modernism, affecting the approach to creativity understood as a tool of progress. Through their artistic and social practice Rabikowska and Hawkins propose “creative research” in an urban locality, where they engage community in a series of “conflictual experiences”, challenging an ideal of both peaceful diversity and affirmative interdisciplinarity.

Papers by Matthew Hawkins

A discussions with filmmakers, protagonists, curators and activists sharing their work and radica... more A discussions with filmmakers, protagonists, curators and activists sharing their work and radical strategies to resist voyeurism in film-making on forced migration. The long table explores our positions as storytellers, curators and media consumers, think about the responsibilities of those who create visual narratives based on another’s experience and engage with some of those to whom these stories belong

Cultural Studies, 2021

In this paper, Marta and Matthew Hawkins explore female creativity and agency through the means o... more In this paper, Marta and Matthew Hawkins explore female creativity and agency through the means of documentary filmmaking. Husband and Wife is an experimental documentary concerning one woman’s journey from Poland to London, England to reclaim the body and the dignity of her husband after his death. The authors/directors discuss the process of creating a space where the life of the characters and the life of the camera merge. This creative, feminist space is what the authors term, filmiation, and they regard it as a space of mutual influence between themselves, the protagonist and their documentary film. In their investigation of the protagonist’s journey from her Polish home town to the city of London, they all become affected by the process of filmmaking itself and by the widow’s relentless resourcefulness in her mission to reclaim the body of her husband. To understand the widow’s tenacious approach of dealing with UK institutions, as well as her mourning, the authors refer to the feminist theories of Lucy Irigaray, and Judith Butler, who offer different conceptualisations of female identity and ethical agency. Drawing upon Irigaray, and Butler’s analysis of Antigone, the cinematic picture of the Polish widow’s commitment to her husband’s post-mortem civic dignity is compared to the commitment of Sophocles’ heroine, who transgressed the patriarchal order attributed only to proper, male citizens. In their argument, the authors of the paper discuss the definition of otherness, as a mode of creative and ultimate resistance that both Antigone and the Polish widow embody, as women acting in the patriarchal world. In their documentary, the authors-directors articulate Polish Antigone’s act of resistance through the angle of female interiority, which in cinema is more characteristic of male protagonists. In that way they reflect the incomprehensible agency of a woman, that is gained through her gendered performance, her creativity and her everyday existence in the world of men.

The practice based research project presented in this thesis draws upon theoretical research in a... more The practice based research project presented in this thesis draws upon theoretical research in affect studies and film-philosophy. The aim of the thesis is to reconsider the pre-production and production process of narrative cinema and involve the rich and varied research into the area of affect and the body in the field of film studies that is currently being used to analyse the reception and meaning making process used as the foundation for producing a series of narrative films that privilege affect over traditional storytelling structures. Four films were made as part of an investigation into affective film practice. These films accompany the written exegesis and serve as a testing ground for concepts developed in the written component of the thesis. Each piece of practice is formally and conceptually more complex than the last. The fourth and final film serves as an example for the cinema of affective tonality and as such constitutes the central, visual argument. The theoreti...

This paper is the result of a three-year research project, the aim of which was to explore new wa... more This paper is the result of a three-year research project, the aim of which was to explore new ways of approaching both the conceptualisation and the production of cinematic narratives through an understanding of affect, through a synergy of film theory and film practice. By combining theory and practice this research explores the concept of affective tonality and the role of the senses in producing a cinematic narrative . Through the integration and exploration of my own practice I research how theoretical and cultural discourses of narrative cinema are constrained by semiotic representation, psychoanalysis and textuality and how affective tonality, which embraces the physical, emotional and cognitive elements of film, enables non-textual possibilities to produce narrative. The concept of affective tonality has been used in philosophy, psychology and neuroscience, and provides an academic context to my research. This concept informs my production theoretically and enables me to c...

Husband and Wife (Hawkins and Hawkins, 2018) is an experimental documentary concerning one woman’... more Husband and Wife (Hawkins and Hawkins, 2018) is an experimental documentary concerning one woman’s journey from Poland to London, England to reclaim the body and the dignity of her husband after his death. It is a woman’s journey from the space of the family home (oikos) to the space of politics (polis) and back. In this film the authors explore this journey as a physical movement of the protagonist in front of the camera and as the relationship between gender, creativity and (bio)politics of life. The film we draws upon the literary figure of Antigone from Sophocles’ play (1998: 400-300BC), which we bring here to reflect on female agency in patriarchal society and to engage with the feminist interpretation of Antigone’s resistance in relation to the protagonist’s journey through London. In order to articulate the relationship between filmmaking, Beata’s journey and the authors/directors, we have developed a concept of ‘filmiation’. Filmation is a physical space and a process which ...

The concept of affective tonality and its manifestation as narrative experience in the short film... more The concept of affective tonality and its manifestation as narrative experience in the short film Bullseye (Hawkins, 2010). This paper will explore the concept of affective tonality as a method of understanding narrative, as expressed through my own film practice as research. 'Bullseye' (Hawkins, 2010) is a short narrative film that encapsulates the narrative modes of Aristotelian linearity through simple plotting that centers on the British pub game of darts and a protagonist’s attempts to achieve his goal of throwing a bullseye. However, this paper will argue that the spectator experiences this narrative through the affective rhythm created by the movement within the frame, the variations of light and colour on screen and the measure of the diagetic sound heard, and that this experience is as important to understanding the narrative as character identification and linearity. The film is an expression of the banal and the everyday, which does not lend itself to grand historical events. I will argue that the banal in 'Bullseye' is not a signifying, representational reproduction of banality, the banal is embodied in the film itself, and through the affective tone of the film it becomes embodied in the spectator. Drawing on concepts of affect and sensation developed by Gilles Deleuze, as well as his concept of the rhizome and minor-literature developed with Felix Guattari this paper shall map out the concept of affective tonality as a tool for understanding the holistic cinematic experience and how this can be then used to understand the physical mechanisms of narrative cinema

Crossing Crossing Conceptual Boundaries III , 2011

This paper will explore the concept of affective tonality as a method of understanding narrative, as expressed through my own film practice as research. 'Bullseye' (Hawkins, 2010) is a short narrative film that encapsulates the narrative modes of Aristotelian linearity through simple plotting that centers on the British pub game of darts and a protagonist’s attempts to achieve his goal of throwing a bullseye.
However, this paper will argue that the spectator experiences this narrative through the affective rhythm created by the movement within the frame, the variations of light and colour on screen and the measure of the diagetic sound heard, and that this experience is as important to understanding the narrative as character identification and linearity. The film is an expression of the banal and the everyday, which does not lend itself to grand historical events. I will argue that the banal in 'Bullseye' is not a signifying, representational reproduction of banality, the banal is embodied in the film itself, and through the affective tone of the film it becomes embodied in the spectator. Drawing on concepts of affect and sensation developed by Gilles Deleuze, as well as his concept of the rhizome and minor-literature developed with Felix Guattari this paper shall map out the concept of affective tonality as a tool for understanding the holistic cinematic experience and how this can be then used to understand the physical mechanisms of narrative cinema

Cultural Studies, 2021

Crossing Crossing Conceptual Boundaries III , 2011