The annual Eye International Conference is an opportunity for scholars, archivists, curators, researchers, filmmakers, students, artists, and film enthusiasts from across the world to gather and explore contemporary professional and academic issues affecting audiovisual heritage today.
The 2022 edition will focus on the imbalance or current misrepresentation of global audiovisual heritage holdings, looking in particular at the alarming scarcity of audiovisual heritage from the Global South in the digital space.* We will provide speakers and participants a platform to encourage knowledge exchange between scholars and archivists from different parts of the world, and different archival traditions. The conference offers a space to consider the impact of geographical location, the availability of resources, technical and digital gaps, and different audiovisual traditions. We will discuss archival challenges and think together about new models for collaboration.
The goal of the conference is to broaden the knowledge and connections within the global archival community, leading to new insights on the status of film heritage and archiving in different parts of the world.
We encourage proposals from participants, archives, and regions that are underrepresented in conferences related to audiovisual heritage, discussing topics that highlight concrete, urgent, practical concerns, and threats to collections.
Download this Call for Proposals as a PDF file.
Eye International Conference 2022: Call for Proposals
From 29 – 31 May, 2022, Eye Filmmuseum, the University of Amsterdam (UvA), Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis (ASCA), and the Association of Moving Image Archivists (AMIA) will present the 7th Eye International Conference on ‘Global Audiovisual Archiving: Exchange of Knowledge and Practices’.
Topics and questions
The program committee will be especially interested in proposals that address the following topics and questions:
Mapping the archives
What is the status of current audiovisual heritage practices in the Global South, and how are we measuring it? What are the differences compared to the Global North, regarding digitization, digital preservation, and digital access? What are the legal statutes and strategies for collecting born-digital audiovisual in the Global South? How might socio-economic conditions, technological infrastructures, political frameworks or other societal situations present challenges for archival policies and practices? What are concrete, pressuring, practical concerns, and threats to collections in the Global South? How have archival histories influenced the current policies in place in archives of the Global South?
Curating global audiovisual heritage
How would a global, collaborative approach change the programming of leading film museums, film (heritage) festivals, and streaming platforms? If accessible digitized audiovisual heritage were truly representative of a global film history, how would that contribute to a modification of the current audiovisual landscape (for general use, education, and re-use of archival material)? How would such an approach challenge the dominant visions of national or regional cinemas of the Global South?
Bridging the gaps
How would global, collaborative, and participatory approaches change audiovisual archival practices in both the Global North and South regarding acquisition, selection, cataloguing, preservation (planning), restoration, rehousing, access, curation, presentation, research, knowledge exchange, etc.? How could sustainable measures of collaboration be put in place between global archives to ensure a continuous and ethical flow of knowledge? How can we imagine forms of support or sharing resources to address the existing challenges?
Presentation formats
We welcome presentations in a wide range of formats, including the formats listed below. We may discuss with presenters appropriate alteration of a format or duration when this makes curatorial sense for the programme as a whole. We will consider a number of live or recorded video presentations for those who may be unable to or who choose not to travel.
Report or Paper Presentation
A 25-minute slot with fully prepared papers/reports of 15-20 minutes with 5 minutes of Q&A.
Panel
A 50-minute session consisting of a panel of three to four individuals who discuss a variety of theories or perspectives on the given topic. Panels are up to 40 minutes of presentation with 10 minutes of Q&A.
Show-and-tell
A 10-minutes short presentation of a case study or archival material, followed by an additional 5 minutes of Q&A.
Roundtable Discussion
A 50-minute session of informal presentations on a general subject area, where participants share what they know. Proposals in this category ideally include a facilitator who will moderate the session and any discussion.
Screening Session
A 50-minute screening presentation. The session may include speakers/discussion but the screening portion should be minimum 35 minutes.
Poster Presentation
A 5-minute pre-recorded session with a poster image. Posters are scheduled five per session slot and all poster presenters are required to participate in the live Q&A during their session.
Evening Screenings
A film program or feature film with a short introduction.
How to apply
The call for proposals is now closed.
A proposal includes:
Description
A description (400 words) for the reviewers with information about the topic and why the session is important to be included in the program. It should also identify AV materials by title, format, and duration.
Abstract
An abstract (150 words) that will appear in the conference program and online if your presentation is accepted.
Bio
A short bio (50 words) for each speaker.
Images
For which the copyrights are cleared.
Registration
For this edition, we are aiming to offer a hybrid conference format to accommodate everyone. In this case, there will be a separate registration fee for in-person participants and virtual participants. Please note that all presenters must register for the conference and that we do not provide registration or financial compensation for speakers with the exception of a limited number of travel grants.
Travel Grant Program
Applications for the Travel Grant Program are now closed.
Schedule
The Eye International Conference 2022 will take place in Amsterdam, from Sunday, 29 to Tuesday, 31 May, 2022.
Participants are also invited to two annual side events:
- Meet the Archive, an afternoon public program highlighting recent projects from the Eye Collection) on Saturday 28 May;
- Open House at the Eye Collection Centre, a program of guided tours, presentations, demonstrations and discussions, on Wednesday 1 June.
Organization
Program committee
Giovanna Fossati (Eye/University of Amsterdam)
Anne Gant (Eye)
Gerdien Smit (Eye)
Rachael Stoeltje (AMIA/Indiana University)
Dennis Doros (AMIA)
Laura Rooney (AMIA)
Floris Paalman (University of Amsterdam)
Advisory board
Aboubakar Sanogo (University of Carleton)
Ines Aisengart Menezes (Freelance Moving Image Preservation and Presentation Consultant)
Juana Suárez (New York University/APEX)
Judith Opoku-Boateng (University of Ghana)
Karen Chan (Asian Film Archive)
Lisabona Rahman (Freelance Moving Image Preservation and Presentation Consultant)
Maral Mohsenin (Cinémathèque suisse, University of Lausanne/University of Amsterdam)
Martino Cipriani (RMIT University Saigon/University of Amsterdam)
Nour Ouayda (Metropolis Cinema Association Lebanon)
This event is organized by Eye Filmmuseum in collaboration with Association of Moving Image Archivists (AMIA) + University of Amsterdam (UvA) and the Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis (ASCA).
* Here the rough categories “Global North” and “Global South” are used for lack of better definitions. These terms are problematic as they convey a sense of “geographic determinism” and need to be replaced by more precise descriptions of the specific cultural and geographical contexts that are discussed. It should also be noted that a similar unbalance exists within Global North countries between institutional and non-institutional (and/or counter) archives.
Header image © Francis Alÿs, REEL-UNREEL, 2011, Kabul, Afghanistan 2011. In collaboration with Julien Devaux and Ajmal Maiwandi. BY-NC-ND