ATELIER MTK

The mother of European artisan laboratories
was the obvious first stop on our journey
to meet Etienne Caire aka Riojim, the
cowboy cineast. It was born in the Grenoble
home of experimental arts, the artist-run
squat Le 102, in 1991 and was quickly
made available to all. Resulting overpopulation
prompted MTK to encourage others
to start their own labs, so forming the first
lab network.
After leaving the 102, they spent two years
in an ex-foundry before moving to the
present building, once used to store dairy
products. Here they have an agreement with
the city of Grenoble. It took 3 months to
renovate. In all, 6 arts associations occupy
the premises. Relationships between them
are informal and productive. MTK shares
the 1st floor with them, using it for music
and cinema rehearsals. Their lab is on
the ground floor: development facilities in
the centre are surrounded by contact and
optical printers, editing tables and a small
screening space to check work. Apart from
sundry skeletons, cinema posters of dubious
taste and a nicotine yellow patina, no particular
effort has been made to decorate
the place. As they say, it is people who give
places their character.
MTK continue to introduce users to the art
of hand-crafted film, providing equipment
and advice, if required, throughout the
fabrication process. They find helping to
try things out enjoyable. They also offer
residencies to artists whose work they know
along with some financial support. There
are no paid employees. People are here
because they want to be. And it doesn’t
cost a lot to function with the discards of a
wealthy society.
They continue to take to the road in various
guises, performing cinema as a live art form.
They are fully convinced of the complementary,
and necessary, function they perform.
While professional labs continue to close
down, for MTK the artist lab network is
where cinematographic knowledge and
techniques will continue to be passed on in
the future.