dr. I.L. (Ivo) Blom

Currently, I am lecturer at the Department of Comparative Arts and Media Studies, Faculty of Arts, VU University, Amsterdam. Here I am also programme director of the Master’s specialisation Intermedialities in Media and Art. Before, I also lectured at the University of Utrecht and the University of Amsterdam. I studied art history in Utrecht and Leiden and wrote my master thesis (1986) on Luchino Visconti and painting. In 1988, I co-organised the retrospective ‘Il primo cinema italiano 1905-1945’ and co-edited the accompanying book Hartstocht en heldendom. From 1989 to 1994, I worked as archivist and restorer at the Netherlands Filmmuseum [now EYE Film Institute]. From 1991 on, I regularly published in Dutch and foreign journals, volumes and encyclopedias on early cinema, in particular on Italian, Dutch, German and French cinema; on such genres as the diva film, epic cinema, early comedy and early non-fiction; and on distribution and exhibition.

From 1994 to 2000, I wrote my dissertation at the University of Amsterdam (2000), which was published in 2003 as Jean Desmet and the Early Dutch Film Trade. Between 2003 and 2005 I toured along a dozen European cities with Desmet’s films, promoting my book. My current research focuses on the intervisual relationships between cinema and other arts. While finishing a major study on Luchino Visconti’s appropriation of visual arts, future research will deal with early Italian cinema and its ties with visual arts, publicity and popular culture.

I am a member of the editorial board of the Tijdschrift voor Mediageschiedenis (Journal on Media History), for which I co-edited the special issues Games & History (2004) and Cinema in Context (2007). Until 2007, I also was on the editorial board of Jong Holland, journal on Art & Visual Culture, publishing on Jean-Léon Gérôme and the early epic Quo Vadis? (2001) and on Visconti, Hayez and intermediality (2006). I am member of the Dutch research school Huizinga Instituut; the seminar Visuele Cultuur; the International Association for Word & Image (IAWIS); the Vereniging Geschiedenis Beeld & Geluid (Association for Image & Sound); the network for European Cinema Studies (NECS); and Domitor, Association for the Study of Early Cinema. I have given lectures at numerous universities, and contributed to workshops and conferences in Western-Europe and the United States.

I have been guest lecturer at the University of Siena (2006-2008) and guest researcher at the Royal Dutch Institute in Rome (KNIR)(2007), the latter after being awarded with the Dr. Blok Stipendium. At KNIR, I organised the Bachelor seminar Film in Rome/ Rome in Film at the Royal Dutch Institute, November 2007, and January 2010. Autumn 2010, I also co-organised the Master course Romanità on the Italian ‘ventennio’, architecture and film, a collaboration between KNIR and my university. I co-organised the conferences The Artist’s Biography on Film (2004), Diva Dolorosa: la gestualità sofferta (2004) and Visconti & Visual Arts (2006). In 2009, I co-organised the exploratory workshop Intermedialities: Theory and Practice of the European Science Foundation. I have been member of PhD jury’s at the Sorbonne, Paris3 (2009) and the University of Gent (2006; 2009), and advisor for NWO (the Dutch National Research Council) and the Mediafonds. In 2004-2005, I was initiator of the exhibition Blikvangers (Eyecatchers) on 60 years of Dutch film poster design.

For publications (including digital versions), lectures, tutored theses & internships, and education, see my Personal website