In Spring 2025 I organized the Cooper Handmade Cinema Group, a workshop series open to all students at the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art. Funding was provided by the Cooper Union Grant Program.

From our website:

Before film hit the big screen, it could be anything: optical toys, peep shows, visual music, or even tools for spiritualist mediumship. Then came a century of obedient Hollywood servitude before celluloid largely retired from industry. Now that it’s leaving the projection booth behind, film is re-connecting with its bohemian roots, offering some pre-cinematic ways of seeing a post-cinematic world.

We hope to foster a community of artists and technologists at Cooper Union who want to embrace the handmade possibilities of film. We have witnessed the erosion of experiential knowledge and craft, reflecting the wider cultural turn toward virtuality that was normalized during the COVID 19 pandemic. Perhaps in response, recent students have been asking for more hands-on experimentation. They had enough “Zoom school” and are seeking a college experience that empowers all of their senses. We hope these workshops can respond to that need and create an opportunity for curiosity, exchange, and discovery.

We welcome all curious tinkerers, artists, sound-makers, and dreamers!

What we did:

The series began with a public event at Rose Auditorium, and concluded with an informal film performance.
Faculty and School of Art technicians taught 18 hrs of hands-on workshops.
65 participants (from the schools of Art, Architecture, and Engineering) explored 16mm film as a tool of tactile experimentation.
We developed custom workflows that are shared on github.
We exposed students to Cooper’s unique resources (Library Archives & 16mm film collection, film and photography facilities in the School of Art)
We expanded resources for future students (DIY tools, projection and processing equipment, books and resources)
Workshop leaders developed pedagogical techniques to be used in future Cooper classroom instruction (Library, Art , Engineering)

Opening Event: “FOUR EXPANDED CINEMA PERFORMANCES”

To start the workshop series, The Cooper Union Handmade Cinema Group presented a night of multi-projector 16mm film works by Jennifer Reeves and Simon Liu.

WORKSHOPS

Film as a Collaboration with the Environment
Jennifer Reeves

Students learn techniques to transform junk 16mm film into original works of personal, handcrafted cinema by working with the elements. Earth, water, mineral, bacteria and heat will aid us in giving renewed value to discarded 16mm film and other materials. In the second session, we will review student projects and explore strategies for handling these fragile handmade works. We will introduce photochemical and digital methods to copy the films so they can be edited and shared.

Mining the Archive
Mary Mann

This course uses Cooper’s archives as a jumping-off point to explore how and why to use archival material to make film. Through hands-on interaction with archival items, participants will develop an understanding of how said materials can inspire and shape a film and will also learn the basics of archival research, from finding where to look to requesting materials to touching things.

Digital Camera-Less Film
Zach Poff

Transform digital video into 16mm film without a camera. We will use custom software to deconstruct short videos into individual frames, then print them onto recycled clear film stock. The half-tone images make great textural loops for performances, or re-scan them back to digital to continue their journey in pixels. (Each participant should bring a short video clip to print onto provided film stock.)

Past Present: Exploring a Collection
Jenny Perlin & Dale Perreault

Did you know that Cooper has a mountain of movies on actual film? Explore the 16mm film collection in the Cooper Library and learn about film preservation and media curation. Students can later opt to be trained on projection and print care in order to curate their own programs.

16mm Photograms and Loops
Lily Sheng

Learn how to create photograms on black and white high-contrast film by exposing materials directly onto the film surface. Students will learn to expose, hand process, and splice the film into short loops that can be projected and layered into the 16mm slot-load projector. Supplies will be provided, but participants are encouraged to bring some very small objects or patterned materials of their own. (To visualize scale, each frame is about the size of a fingernail.)

The Projector as Instrument
Zach Poff

Pop the hood on a 16mm film projector and learn how this “sewing machine of the senses” works from the inside out. Discover the assumptions baked into the design by a century of service in movie theaters, and the potentials to re-engineer it as a hand-held tool for expressive performance.
Based on the work of the SPECTRAL: Wandering seminar in 2023-2025.

Optic Antics
Simon Liu

Delving into both the practical groundwork and vast creative potentials of multiple projection performance by utilizing a plethora of analog projection tools combined with digital approaches, this workshop asks students to reimagine the presentation of moving images and how so-called outdated machines can closely reflect our contemporary experience. Participants will learn how to stage multi-channel 16mm projections utilizing both found footage alongside new material whilst manipulating the optical soundtrack in real time. Then we will experiment with alternative projection screens, reflective surfaces, and video feedback loops to create a mixed-media hybrid performance.

The Chemistry of Color
Fabiola Barrios-Landeros

We will measure the visible spectra of acetate light filters and pigment solutions to explore the significance of wavelength and absorbance.
Additionally, we will set up an experiment to project real-time color changes in natural pigments extracted from butterfly pea tea. Their chemical structures undergo changes in response to acidic or basic conditions, which we will control using household chemicals.
Participants will also have the opportunity to create their own liquid filters and test them using cellphone cameras.