Symposium: New Paradigms for Accessing and Curating Audiovisual Collections

Addressing the challenges related to every aspect of audiovisual archival practice, especially when it comes to preservation in the data age, this symposium is stimulated by a growing need for collection access models that go beyond traditional strategies, as well as by the need to reconceptualise curatorial and presentational frameworks and models. It aims to explore the intersection of cutting-edge computational methods and audiovisual archiving through three themed sessions, each designed to cover a specific and unique angle:

1) A Blurry Boundary: From Archive to Data

This talk will examine the transformation of archived audiovisual content into data entities; it will explore challenges and opportunities in rethinking preservation and archiving in light of the diverse array of available technologies.

2) A New Way of Seeing: Analytics and Curation

Attuned to the data richness of audiovisual content and inspired by experimental archives, this discussion will take the form of a critical reflection tracing the impact of computational methods and analytics on archive accessibility, with a view to curation, exploration, copyright, and public engagement.

3) In Progress and Practice: An Institutional Zoom-In

Focussing on institutions in Switzerland and abroad, this talk will address technological and conceptual challenges concerning the preservation and management of audiovisual content – in theory and in practice. Bringing together more than a dozen world-leading scholars in various fields (such as media and cultural studies, Digital Humanities, archival science, informatics and human-computer interaction), archivists and curators from heritage institutions, as well as domain experts and artists, this symposium will serve as a holistic venue to explore and critically reflect on the affordances and limitations of cutting-edge computational methods and tools for preserving, accessing and utilizing audiovisual materials and to push forward a digital and data-driven mindset for the future of audiovisual collections.

In addition to the themed talks, the symposium includes a visit to the pioneering Laboratory for Experimental Museology (eM+), a special screening of the recent documentary 'Film, the Living Record of Our Memory,' as well as a guided tour of the latest EPFL Pavilions exhibition, 'Cyber Physical: Architectures in Motion.'

Find out more and register.