In the new CAM in Motion film cycle, curated by Katherine Sirois, the title ‘You can’t see a thing there’ is a slight provocation that refers to questions of visibility and perception in images in motion, conditioned by effects such as unfolding, superimposition or multiplication, defocusing, transparency, obstruction or brightness, fragmentation or pixelation.

The title of this programme is a tribute to Daniel Arasse (Alger 1944-Paris 2003) who dedicated a large part of his life as an art historian to questions of representation and the journeys of the gaze in Italian Renaissance painting. Sensitive to the dazzle aroused by painting, he developed the practice of seeking out and detecting the subtle, humorous and often hidden stories behind the wonder of what appears at first glance. In his book On n’y voit rien, published in Paris in 2000, Arasse pointed out the enigmas and games of meaning contained in artists’ compositions.

The cycle exhibits a selection of videos which, in many cases, present an experimental work involving playful alterations of performative or pre-existing visual material through the use of current technologies. It aims to offer a reflection on the paradox of analogue and digital images, between their triumphant role of showing and their simultaneous dynamics of artifice, manipulation or deterioration.

The selection offers the public a mix of pioneering works that use analogue media and manual techniques, landmarks in the recent history of video art, and recent works produced by emerging artists.

The programme is divided into three sessions organised around various technical and conceptual approaches: ‘Obstruction, Blurring and Deterioration’, from 18 May to 24 June; ‘Manipulated ready-mades’, from 26 June to 5 August; ‘Audio and visual collage’, from 7 August to 9 September.