The FIAT/IFTA annual World Conference gives an insight into the most recent innovations in audiovisual archives’ use and technology, from all over the world. Archivists from the world’s most important media collections, but also content strategists, media producers, curators and preservationists are called to participate. Host of this edition was Venice, a city with an unrivalled geographical position, a wonderful monumental heritage and a most vibrant cultural life, be it in the visual arts, literature, music or film.

The conference title “The Archive’s Renaissance: Navigating the Future, Channelling the Past” was a reference not only to the location but also to a new creative renaissance emergent in the archives. In this golden age of content and storytelling, the archive is not only a rich source for cultural expression but also a powerful creative advocate and protective force within the industry and society.

In her keynote speech, Ana Luiza Thompson-Flores, Director of the UNESCO Regional Bureau for Science and Culture in Europe, highlighted the importance of audiovisual archives for the preservation and safeguarding of memory and history and for the respect of the human right to know and freedom of expression. “The common objective of the attendants at the Conference should be the creation of a common truthful and accessible heritage source for future generations”, she said.

As Jaime Torres‐Bodet Mexican poet and former UNESCO Director‐General, once declared, “Archives - rather than “vast cemeteries” - are places where one may find the “experiences, adventures, risks, and dramas” of society. They are crucial to the “continuity of human conscience” and to the possibility of good government; they contain the “instructive traces of life.”

This is the belief that still orients UNESCO’s activities: the past has to be preserved and remembered. It is a fundamental repository of answers and advice for the challenges that the future holds. In this spirit, “to preserve and safeguard” are key within UNESCO’s mandate and progressively more and more importance has been attributed to digitization, as a fundamental tool to keep trace of memory and history and to ensure that it does not just disappear or it is not forgotten.

UNESCO recognizes the essential role of digital and audiovisual materials for the preservation of the common heritage of humanity, with a special focus on the conservation of the documentary heritage of the world, cultural heritage – whether tangible or intangible, and in emergency and crisis situations, including for the fight against illicit trafficking of cultural goods. Audiovisual materials are chief to protecting cultural heritage and combatting impunity.

Launched in 2017 and funded by the Japanese government, the project on “Digitizing our shared UNESCO history” is testimony to the attention that UNESCO pays to digitization as a tool for preserving and keeping trace of memory. The project aims at preserving, digitizing and providing accessibility to the Organization’s documentary heritage, a treasure that for decades has been stored at the Headquarters buildings, with limited accessibility and possibility for consultation, and with the high risk of losing a consistent part of this international collective memory to physical deterioration.

During her speech, Ana Luiza Thompson-Flores showed digitized photos of Venice for the very first time, part of UNESCO’s archives related to the International Campaign for the Safeguarding of Venice, started in response to the appeal on 2 December 1966. The pictures portray the decay and poor state of conservation of Venice at that time, together with the consolidation and restoration interventions undertaken within the campaign to contrast the detrimental effects of flooding, high humidity rates and air pollution. The public discovered every corner of Venice, its life, inhabitants and visitors but also its marvellous buildings and monuments.

Sharing UNESCO’s efforts in the fight against the destruction of memory, Ana Luiza Thompson-Flores closed her address, underlining that “archives are essential in the very important role of preservation and accessibility of information, of freedom of expression and of the protection of cultural diversity, of tangible and intangible cultural heritage and of human rights overall”.

FIAT/IFTA 2018 World Conference Website : https://bit.ly/2O4vRfT

Link: https://digital.archives.unesco.org

World Audiovisual Heritage Day: https://en.unesco.org/commemorations/worldaudiovisualday