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Documentary Sound / Sound as Documentation

This morning workshop addresses the role of sound in documentary. The aim of the workshop is to collectively map contemporary trends in documentary sound design and to engage critically with the vocabulary available for sound analysis. Drawing on a variety of documentary examples, the workshop aims to instigate conversation around the theory and practice of sound in the digital media landscape.

This morning workshop addresses the role of sound in documentary. The aim of the workshop is to collectively map contemporary trends in documentary sound design and to engage critically with the vocabulary available for sound analysis. Drawing on a variety of documentary examples, the workshop aims to instigate conversation around the theory and practice of sound in the digital media landscape. Documentary Sound / Sound as Documentation Date: Tuesday, November 26, 9:30-12:30 Location: Belle van Zuylenzaal, University Library, Singel 425, Amsterdam Registration: c.j.birdsall@uva.nl / t.pape@uva.nl  This morning workshop addresses the role of sound in documentary. The aim of the workshop is to collectively map contemporary trends in documentary sound design and to engage critically with the vocabulary available for sound analysis. Drawing on a variety of documentary examples, the workshop aims to instigate conversation around the theory and practice of sound in the digital media landscape. The workshop features short presentations by scholars... >

Two courses of Media Studies nominated for the Humanities Education Award 2019

The award will be handed out on Tuesday, 25 June in the Compagnietheater.

This year, in contrast with previous years, students and staff members were able to personally nominate courses for the Education Award. The jury received 35 nominations: 28 for a Bachelor’s course and 7 for a Master’s course. Nominated bachelor courses are: Games (keuzevak Mediastudies), Toni Pape Living Information (Media and Information), Mark Deuze Legacies of the Enlightenment (Europese studies), Matthijs Lok For more information, see: Six courses nominated for the Humanities Education Award 2019. >

War and the Screen Machine: Film Lecture by Patricia Pisters

Thursday 9 May 2019, 7,15 pm

War and the Screen Machine: Film Lecture by Patricia Pisters Patricia Pisters will take us on an audio-visual ‘tour of duty’ across contemporary war cinema, demonstrating how ‘war’ and ‘cinema’ have a long and entangled history.  Military equipment nowadays includes cameras and other media devices, the battlefield has exploded on multiple screens, refracting many points of view, forming traumatic kernels in our screen culture. In his book War and Cinema, Paul Virilio has shown how military technologies of enhancing perception and logistics of warfare have developed in pair with cinema and entertainment media. Ranging from colour film during the Second World War to video games and drone operations in more recent times, there is a tight link between war and media technologies. In her lecture, Patricia Pisters will sketch an overview of the most recent developments in the tight bonds between war and media. She will discuss different media strategies to ‘cover’ the war,... >

Patricia Pisters & Amir Vudka about mental health in the digital age

Thursday 18 April 2019, 5-6,30 pm

Media as “Pharmakon”. Mental health in the digital age In cooperation with the Amsterdam Research Institute of the Arts and Sciences Are digital media like narcotic drugs? Such comparisons have become increasingly common in the rampant discussion on smartphone and technology addiction. In his book ‘Plato’s Pharmacy’ (1968) philosopher Jacques Derrida discusses the ambiguity of the “pharmakon”, designating both poison and medicine, depending on context and individual differences. Can our contemporary media be seen as pharmaka for our mental health? For the 5th session of the “SAY AAHH!” series Amir Vudka, Patricia Pisters and Marlies Brouwer will discuss their ongoing work on this topic. In the field of psychiatry, articles appear about smartphone technology in obsessive compulsive behavior (OCD) and depression; burn-out and other mental health problems in youth are increasingly related to digital media culture. At the same time media in themselves are never just the only cause. Furthermore... >

Stefania Milan presents book launch ‘Communities at Crossroads’ by Annalisa Pelizza

Monday 15 April 2019, 5-6,30 pm

Communities at Crossroads in Cyberculture In cooperation with the Institute of Network Cultures How should we understand and discuss online culture and communities in the 21st century? To answer this question, Annalisa Pelizza looks back at the mid-2000s in her new book ‘Communities at Crossroads’. In this event Pelizza will discuss her findings together with Stefania Milan and the audience. The mid-2000s were a turning point for digital communitarian cultures, with the burst of the creative-entrepreneur alliance, the territorialization of the internet and the commercialization of interpersonal ties. Up until then, ideas for online sociability had been underpinned by the utopian perspectives of a techno-libertarian culture. However, these ideas began to face systematic counter evidence in the mid-2000s, causing a change of paradigm that has consequences to this very day. Annalisa Pelizza investigates the theories of actions supporting the techno-social digital assemblages that developed after the ‘golden age’ of online communities.... >

This is Film! Film Heritage in Practice

March 6th – May 8th 2019

From March 6th to May 8th, Eye and the University of Amsterdam present This is Film! Film Heritage in Practice , a series of six public lectures at Eye devoted to remarkable projects in the field of film restoration and film heritage. Giovanna Fossati (Chief Curator at Eye and Professor of Film Heritage at the UvA) addresses recent restoration projects and presentation forms of film heritage, varying from silent cinema compilation programmes to Hollywood classics. Each session features an extended Q&A session with an invited (international) guest speaker, who will also introduce a film screening. This is Film! offers insight into what happens behind the scenes in film archives, museums and cinemas, and is aimed at everyone who loves film. The lectures are in English and can be attended as a series or on a one-off basis. Wednesdays at 15:30 from March 6 – May 8, 2019 (www.eyefilm.nl/thisisfilm) The programme... >

Dr. Catherine Lord in nominated short research film ‘Now Circa’

By professor Redell Olsen

Now Circa (1918) is shortlisted for the Research in Film Award of the AHRC (Arts & Humanities Research Council). ‘Now Circa’ is a film essay that quotes original archival research undertaken at John Rylands Suffrage Collection, Manchester and The Women’s Library, LSE. It embodies historical detail and texture relating to the material culture of the suffragettes: such as the handwritten inventory of costs for a march. The film marks the one hundred year anniversary of female suffrage in the UK. The judges remarked that this was ‘an interesting, excellent and imaginative use of the medium of film to explore issues of feminism and explain the history of women’s suffrage.’ Read more here. >

SISTERS! – Proposal Extension & Keynote Announcement

Women and the Silent Screen – Eye International Conference

We are proud to announce the names of the keynote speakers: Prof. Jaqueline Stewart: a professor at the Department of Cinema and Media Studies of the University of Chicago, her research and teaching explore African American film cultures from the origins of the medium to the present. Stewart’s research topics also include the archiving and preservation of moving images, and “orphan” media histories, including nontheatrical, amateur, and activist film and video. Dr. Annette Förster: a media historian and film curator who specializes in women in film history. Förster was among the initiators of the first Women and the Silent Screen Conference which took place in Utrecht in 1999. Her acclaimed book Women in the Silent Cinema. Histories of Fame and Fate (Amsterdam University Press) was published in 2017. Extension of deadline: The deadline for the call for proposals has been extended to 7th December 10:00 am (CET). The committee looks forward to receiving your proposals at conference@eyefilm.nl. More information on the CfP here: https://www.eyefilm.nl/en/call-for-papers-eye-international-conference-2019 >

Sal Hagen, UvA-alumnus of Media Studies, wins internet thesis prize 2018

Hagen won with his thesis: 'Here I Am, Praying to an Egyptian Frog. Exploring Political Fluidity on 4chan/pol/'

On the 1st of November 2018, Hagen won the internet thesis prize 2018. Hagen wrote this thesis as part of the research master of Media Studies at the University of Amsterdam. Read more here (in Dutch).     >

The Making of the Humanities VII

15-17 November 2018

The major conference on the history of the humanities will take place in Amsterdam, 15-17 November 2018, “The Making of the Humanities VII”, with three keynote speakers and 140+ contributions including sessions on: History of Television Studies Circulation of Humanistic Knowledge Humanities’ Grand Visions Digital History of Humanities and much more. See http://www.historyofhumanities.org/.   >