[ecrea] CFP: out of the dark stacks and into the light: re-­‐viewing the moving image archive for the 21st century

SYNOPTIQUE Call For Papers



“OUT OF THE DARK STACKS AND INTO THE LIGHT: RE-VIEWING THE MOVING IMAGE 
ARCHIVE FOR THE 21st CENTURY”



The archive, as a concept, an action, and a physical repository of 
historical traces and material fragments, has a central place within 
contemporary film and moving image studies. The archive is not only a 
location for historical research; it also functions as a source of 
images and materials to be mined by filmmakers and media artists. Many 
studies of the archive have focused on these two dominant approaches to 
the use and formulation of moving image archives, especially in studies 
of documentary and avant-garde compilation or found footage cinema. 
Increasingly, film and media scholars are also turning to the archive to 
revise histories of film theory, film production, and its distribution 
and circulation, especially in post-colonial, historiographical, and 
transnational film scholarship. A such, the archive becomes as much a 
site of struggle and contested histories, as it is a site of creative 
inspiration and cultural preservation.



With the transnational and global turn in film scholarship, a greater 
analysis of the circulation and display of archival materials and moving 
images is necessary to understand how archival access might impact the 
current assessment of global and local shifts. In this special issue on 
the moving image archive, we wish to focus on both the sites of archival 
preservation and display of moving images (including museums, art 
galleries, institutional archives, private collections, and the 
Internet), as well as the circulatory and creative networks that connect 
them. In doing so we intend to bring questions of circulation and 
exhibition into dialogue with the archive, in addition to a focus on the 
archive as a concept and method of artistic practice. Submissions may 
include, but are not by any means limited to, topics such as:



• Archival preservation, access, technologies, and practice



• Archive as concept or methodology (landscape as archive, Internet 
archive, etc.)



• Archival images in experimental films, videos, and games (compilation, 
found footage, database films, etc.)



• Archives, gesture, sound, and performance



• Digital archives and digitalization of archival materials



• Documentary and the evidentiary uses of archival moving images



• Colonial and postcolonial archives



• Community organizations and archival display



• Critiques of archival theory, media studies theory, and film theory



• Global flows and circulation of archival materials and images



• Institutional histories of a specific archive



• New media, remix cultures, and the archive



• Queer and feminist archives



• Spaces of display and archival practice (museums, non-theatrical 
spaces, online databases, etc.)



Essay submissions for the peer-review section should be approximately 
15-30 pages including the bibliography (maximum 7,500 words), and 
formatted according to MLA guidelines. This special issue is invested in 
exploring the archive in all its conceptual and practical 
manifestations, so we also welcome shorter pieces (2-8 pages, maximum 
2,000 words) related to archival images or practice for our non-peer 
review section. This section includes conference or exhibition reports, 
book reviews, research creation pieces related to archival images or 
practice (including video essays, photograph series, and other digital 
projects accompanied by an explanatory text), and interviews with 
artists or archival practitioners.



All submissions must be in either French or English. Papers should be 
submitted by October 10, 2014. A link on www.synoptique.ca will guide 
you through the submission process. Feel free to contact us with any 
questions you may have at: (editor.synoptique /at/ gmail.com).


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