As part of Measuring with a Bent Stick, the first part of the inquiry On Becoming Earthlings, Council did a talk at Loop Barcelona.

If we were to understand production as a dynamic process finalised to the creation of contents, we should take into consideration the cultural, financial, anthropological and historical factors inherent to it. In recent years, art production has come to be a hybrid practice, – or a more or less structured interaction between agents of different nature, all striving to achieve a common goal. In such a complex network determined by social and economic elements different every time, the interacting agents respond to very personal and specific motives that range from philanthropic endeavours to bold financial ambitions. Taking these considerations as a starting point, this talk will explore the production of artists films and videos today, while highlighting the peculiarities that characterise their temporal and processual nature. If the number of artists making films has tremendously increased in the last decade, the production costs of such ambitious creations often exceed the possibilities of an individual commissioner (be it a museum, a gallery or an art institution) thus presenting the need for structured modes of collaborative production. Artists, gallerists, collectors and curators all become potential contributors of a same project, in this way opening up the way for new systems of networked production.

Exemplar in this regard, and a case study in this talk, the project Measuring with a Bent Stick, promoted by the internationally operating platform Council and born out of the will to explore the impact of climate change worldwide. Through the collaboratively production of a series of films that reflect on the theme, the programme places the inquiry within the problematic surrounding of the production and distribution strategies of films at the crossroads between the art world and cinema.