Assembling the Archival City: Collective Curation within the EYE on Art Research Lab

The rapid spread of digital technologies has led to both a rise in the amount of audiovisual material and the increasing accessibility of film footage through databases and archives. When thinking through the process of curation, one therefore must bear in mind myriad ethical, economic, spatial, and political implications that have become crucial in the context of accelerated digitization. In the case of film, which in its century-long development has been a battleground of clashing political views and economic influences, the virtue of curating has come to lie in a reflexive and critical engagement with the material. During an intensive group collaboration as guest curators for the EYE Film Museum in Amsterdam, the question of selecting and presenting archival film material from the museum’s vast collections was immediately concerned with both genealogical issues and political ramifications; for instance, in exploring how the content of advertisements and experimental films have changed over time and in accordance with societal development.