Video Activism: From Images of Protest to Protesting Images

How does video activism challenge dominant power structures? In
what ways can video be used in social protests that directly impact
the livelihoods of those creating the content? This episode looks
at the use of video as an activist tool by practicioners from
Turkey who moved to Germany after the Gezi Park protests (2013).
'Vıdeoact: The Use of Video as an Activist Tool of
Self-Representation for Turkish Practitioners in Germany', a
project by Dr. Şirin Fulya Erensoy, Marie Curie Postdoctoral Fellow
at Babelsberg Film University since September 2021, supervised by
Professor Jens Eder, explores the use of video as a tool of social
protest. In conversation with Özlem Sarıyıldız, Video Activist from
Turkey, Artist, Filmmaker, Editor, and co-founder of the first
web-based video-activist collective from Turkey, KaraHaber, this
episode highlights the importance of generating content outside the
conventions of mainstream media, creating a collective memory for
future generations, as well as the performativity of the
practicioners, and its implications for the prospects of social
protest. Ultimately, this episode interrogates how academic
research can contribute to broadening our understanding of social
protest as an audiovisual practice that creates images of protests
that ultimately become protest through images.Ultimately, this
episode also interrogates how academic research can contribute to
broadening our understanding of social protest as an audiovisual
practice that creates images of protests that ultimately become
protest through images.