Workshop with Margaret Salmon: The Observational Camera

Organised in partnership with Hospitalfield as part of their CITIZEN Spring Season Open Weekend, this workshop will consider the differences between ​‘observation’ and ​‘documentation’ within filmmaking and artistic practices. Participants will be introduced to various historical and theoretical examples of both street photography and street filmmaking, including the presentation of Margaret Salmon’s own film Gibraltar (2013).

A practical introduction to two types of 16mm cameras that Salmon uses to make her own work, the Cannon Scoopic 16mm press camera and the Bolex will follow, before using these in a group filming exercise underpinned by the idea of engaging with a place in an ​‘observational mode’. Following the workshop the resulting 16mm film stock will be developed and made available to participants online to view the results.

Workshop participants are welcome to stay overnight at Hospitalfield on Saturday 22 April, to take part in other events there during CITIZEN Spring Season Open Weekend. £5 accommodation can be booked here.

Born in 1975 in Suffern, New York, Margaret Salmon lives and works in Glasgow. She creates filmic portraits that weave together poetry and ethnography. Focusing on individuals in their everyday activities, her films capture the minutiae of daily life and infuse them with gentle grandeur, touching upon universal human themes. Adapting techniques drawn from various cinematic movements, such as Cinema Vérité, the European Avant Garde and Italian Neo-Realism, Salmon’s orchestrations of sound and image introduce a formal abstraction into the tradition of realist film. Salmon won the first Max Mara Art Prize for Women in 2006. Her work was shown at the Venice Biennale in 2007 and the Berlin Biennale in 2010 and was featured in individual exhibitions at Witte de With in Rotterdam and Whitechapel Gallery in London among others.