To make collections more accessible for artists, researchers, and the general audience, audiovisual archives are increasingly making use of digitisation and AI technology. These technologies have great potential for enriching (digital) AV archives, yet, these developments are also increasingly being questioned and a number of key problems are raised. This is driven by a concern with ensuring more equitable approaches, in particular relating to: the environmental impact of AI and digitisation, the implications for critical artistic reuse, and the consequences for archival access and curation.
The Archival Landscapes of AI project aims to centre the role of audiovisual archives, to explore the question; How can AI reconfigure and reactivate audiovisual archives in sustainable ways? The project will explore this question in collaboration with the Eye Filmmuseum and the AI2 consortium, with research centred around Eye’s immersive the Film Catcher installation. The project will contribute to the design and implementation of new technological and critical methodologies to develop insights for how AI and archives can engage in a sustainable, critical, and artistic manner.
