Thursday,  March 10th 2011, 5.00-6.30 pm.

Location: Muntstraat 2A, 1.11

abstract:

In this paper I propose to look at a specific instance of film reflecting on its own predicted demise. I look at experimental practices where direct intervention on the film strip becomes part of a process of remembering and mourning. I argue that these are exemplary not merely of a mise en abyme of, or of a nostalgic lament for, the disappearance of celluloid, but of a creative reworking of the “obsolescence” thesis that encourages us to re-consider the “death of film” controversy in material as well political terms.

Professor Martine Beugnet is convenor of Film Studies at the University of Edinburgh. She is the author of Marginalité, sexualité, contrôle: cinéma français contemporain, l’Harmattan, 2000, Claire Denis, M.U.P. series on French Directors, Manchester University Press, 2004, Proust at the Movies, in collaboration with Marion Schmid, Ashgate, 2005, Cinema and Sensation: French Film and the Art of Transgression, EUP, 2007. She has also written articles and essays on a wide range of contemporary cinema topics, including, in 2009/2010, contributions to the anniversary issues of the Australian Journal of French Studies, Studies in French Cinema and Screen.

This lecture is a special edition of MCW’s What’s Cooking?! research platform, organized by MIRACLE,  (http://miracleresearch.wordpress.com/)

Friday, March 18^th 2011, 3-5 pm.

Location: Stijlkamer van Ravensteyn (1.06), Kromme Nieuwegracht 80

The proliferation of electronic objects demands a reconceptualization of our notions of archive, library and bibliographic access. The digital environment offers unprecedented access to the past, altering our relation to history, presenting new opportunities for preservation and access, but also posing threats to historical memory and the cultural record. We are witnessing a growing interest in archival theory across many disciplines and a recognition that all scholarship is implicitly a negotiation with, an interpretation of, and a contribution to the archival record. Recently I’ve been exploring the tremendous archival power of the digital and the utility of archival metaphor in understanding new media. I’ve called this phenomenon the archival effects of the digital. Digitization provides greater access to the past, fuller access to the present, and a reshaping of historical consciousness. While cultural artifacts from earlier periods have been accessible through libraries, archives and museums throughout the modern period, the ease of access and the omnipresence of older artifacts now available in digital formats is a recent phenomenon. Nevertheless, the tremendous growth in digital projects should not blind us to the fact that the choice, design and funding for digitization projects continues to be shaped by social and political forces and continues to demand theoretical and critical scrutiny.

Marlene Manoff has a Ph.D. in English from Brandeis University and Masters Degrees in comparative literature (UCLA) and library and information science (Simmons). She is the Associate Head and Collection Manager for the MIT Humanities Library. She has published articles on the politics of building library collections and on the political and social implications of electronic text and the impact of electronic technology on scholarly research. Her essays include The Materiality of Digital Collections: Theoretical and Historical Perspectives, Theories of the Archive from Across the Disciplines and The Symbolic Value of Libraries in a Digital Age. She is currently a visiting scholar at Max-Planck-Institute, Berlin.

This lecture is organized by Cultures & Identitites (Changing Literacies).

http://web.mit.edu/mmanoff/www/

For more information contact: Martina Roepke (M.M.Roepke@uu.nl)