Semiotics of the Kitchen, Dir. Martha Rosler, 1975, USA, 6 mins

WHO

Widely influential American feminist, collectivist, political video/ photo-text/ installation/ performance artist and writer.

PROPOSAL

Strip back the domesticated ‘meaning’ of (everyday, mundane, kitchen) tools to reveal “a lexicon of rage and frustration.”

WHY

The film takes the most basic of kitchen implements as tools to reveal implicit connivance with traditional gender roles in the most simple of ways, by doing almost nothing to them; “when the woman speaks, she names her own oppression.”¹

To Pour Milk into a Glass, Dir. David Lamelas, 1972, UK, 8 mins

WHO

Pioneering Argentinian conceptual artist, mostly trying to figure out how meaning is made and information is imparted.

PROPOSAL

An allegorical use of mundane, everyday things as an examination of how meaning is constructed in film.

WHY

“I wanted to find symbols for ‘container’ and ‘contents’ – to represent how the camera frames – and what is shown on screen. …I decided to use a glass and milk. The eight sequences end with… the glass being shattered and the milk splattering all over the table, which implies that there is no way to contain information.”—David Lamelas.

Below is an online link which you can use for reference. To see the film in its original glory, check with the distributor of the film for their terms and conditions.