Telephone number:	+31 (0)71 527 2357
E-Mail:	j.j.m.houwen@hum.leidenuniv.nl
Faculty / Department:	Faculteit der Geesteswetenschappen, Institute for Cultural Disciplines, Literatuurwetenschap
Office Address:	Witte Singel-complex van Wijkplaats 2 2311 BX Leiden Room number 1.03b

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Fields of interest

Intermediality and medium specificity
The relation between video and film
Theory

Research

Title research project: As Cain and Abel: The Relation between Video and Film.  

In my dissertation, I investigate the complicated relationship between the media film and video. Exploring their similarities as well as differences, I study the specificity of both mediums, as well as their intermedial relationship. By examining these two particular, closely related mediums, I wish to gain a better understanding of the concepts of intermediality and medium-specificity in general. In the contemporary era of new and digital media, these two concepts are often used. However, they have yet to be more clearly delineated. What could be their function? How should they be understood, used and defined?
                In order to answer the above-mentioned questions, I analyze a corpus of self-reflexive videos and films that where produced in the period from 1975 to today. By explicitly referring to the other medium, the selected works (by, among others, Michael Haneke, Jean-Luc Godard, David Claerbout and Stan Douglas) bring the notion of intermediality into practice, and therefore serve as demonstrations of what the concept can possibly entail. Moreover, precisely by relating to another medium, these films and videos form a reflection on (their own) medium-specificity as well. 
                In addition to investigating the concepts of intermediality and medium-specificity in general through an exploration of two particular mediums, my dissertation also aims at gaining a better understanding of the mediums film and video as such. Can these two closely resembling and technically evolving mediums still be distinguished today? As video has not yet been extensively discussed in theoretical terms, I aim to further develop a theory of video through an exploration of film theory. Taking into consideration David Green’s idea that “a medium is defined by historically relative and shifting perceptions of what it ‘is’ ”(2005:21), I want to demonstrate how theories both reflect on and possibly determine film and video as mediums. 

Curriculum Vitae

Since September 2007: PhD student, Leiden University
2006-2007: MA Literary Studies, Leiden University
2002-2006: BA General and Comparative Literature, Leiden University
2000-2005: BA Fine Art, Royal Academy of Fine Art, The Hague