|
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
World heritage in danger : audiovisual memory fades away in silenceby Emmanuel Hoog, Ina
The Annual Conference of the International Federation of Television Archives, held in Paris from October 15th to 19th, will be the largest gathering of audiovisual memory managers on the planet. The challenge: safeguarding the images and sounds that testify - at least as much as the written word - of our era. 80% of the world's archives are endangered. This holds true for rich countries like the United States, whose leaders, unaware, refuse to take interest in the preservation of their audiovisual heritage, not deemed financially viable. This is also the case in developing countries, due to the cost of these operations. Can we stand by and allow the audiovisual heritage of the twentieth century to fade away forever? "I knew that I should have to die, even without your edict." Resigned to her tragic fate, Antigone spoke these words to Creon, King of Thebes. The year was 1967 , as the cameras of Jean-Claude de Nesle filmed the face of Nita Klein in an adaptation by Jean Cocteau. Sophocle's tragedy thus moved, for the first time, from the stage to the world of television and another temporality. Recorded on film, it should have been - or at least it was thought at the time - the guarantee of a new eternity. But it was nothing of the sort. Images, sounds, films, videos and magnetic tapes are in turn confronted with the ephemeral. Their scheduled disappearance makes our world audiovisual heritage the unfortunate protagonist in a modern-day tragedy: the death of our collective memory. And yet here there is no determinism, no curse. It can all be avoided. This tragedy has an ending that deserves to be rewritten. Two continents oppose one another: the analogical and the digital. Moving from the first to the second would save the world's entire audiovisual memory. We must organize a "Crossing of the Red Sea" and reach this Promised Land together. The digitization of archives has proven itself, like an elixir of life capable of giving nations back the scope of their image-memory, ranging from world diversity to maintaining identities, and the essential passing of history on to future generations. According to Unesco, the world audiovisual heritage, excluding cinema, is estimated at 200 million hours , divided equally between television and radio. 80% of this memory is endangered. Depending on the media, the life expectancy of documents varies by several years, but a single fact requires our undivided attention: within the next ten years, it will all be gone. Listing what we risk losing is impossible. Not all the regions of the world are struck with the same intensity. In addition to the digital divide often described , there is also the rupture of memory. Main regions at risk: South America, Africa, the Near East and South-East Asia. Many countries such as the United Kingdom, Italy, France, Germany and Sweden are implementing safeguarding programmes . Conversely, the poor countries of the South are losing entire chapters of their audiovisual archives . Cultural diversity is in danger. For although audiovisual heritage is above all an indispensable crucible, a guarantee of identities and history, it is also the mirror of our societies, of our daily life, our passions and our emotions. In 1977, the International Federation of Television Archives (FIAT/IFTA) was founded in Rome . A few years later, in 1980, Unesco laid the first stone with its recommendation for the "safeguarding and preservation of moving images" . With 180 members in over 60 countries, FIAT encourages regional cooperation and appeals to archive users on the stakes and rewards of the preservation of audiovisual heritage . But this awareness is slow in coming. Comprised of sound and images, audiovisual memory suffers paradoxically from a form of deterioration that cannot be seen or heard by the general public. When a stained glass window of the Chartres Cathedral breaks, when a room of the Château de Versailles is damaged, all of France is up in arms and nation-wide fundraising is immediately underway. When the temples of Angkor suffer from neglect, the world finds it unbearable. And yet thousands of boxes of film piled up on shelves die in silence. With digital technology, however, our audiovisual heritage can be ensured of a long and renewable life . What is more, and by physically disconnecting the archive medium from the user, digital makes this memory accessible. Once compressed, sound and images can accompany, with perfect definition, all of the current vectors, be they artistic or cultural, educational or research-oriented. Entering into schools and universities, audiovisual heritage gives a new dimension to basic education. It is also a tremendous media working tool for researchers and becomes a source of inspiration, innovation and re-appropriation for creators. Ensuring the physical storage of audiovisual archives is the same thing as restoring our cathedrals. Financial effort affects the response, or rather the lack of response. Often there are insufficient resources to take up expensive technological solutions, particularly for countries of the South: pooling means is a must. Sometimes the resources are available, like in the United States. But they still have not launched a digitization programme for their fabulous analogical collection, as they do not feel the archives have enough commercial value… On top of the financial difficulties, there is also the dual deficiency in training: the decision-makers' inability to grasp the issues at stake, and the lack of staff trained in preservation techniques. These skills need to be developed and passed on in each country. Afghanistan, for example, preserved part of its history on 2-inch tapes, and no longer has the equipment required to read them . It has become blind, like Champollion gazing upon the hieroglyphics before he found and deciphered the Rosette Stone. The transfer of continents of images and sound to digital is seen as a new light. But countries are confined to be blindness. In an attempt to reduce the inequalities, ambitious projects have been launched, such as "Presto Space", which has the support of the European Union. Its main objective is to find global solutions for digitizing and exploiting all types of audiovisual collections, by sharing means of safeguarding and making them more affordable, and developing strategies for distributing and exploiting archive collections. The President of Senegal, Mr. Adboulaye Wade, has, for his part, put forth the concept of "digital solidarity" as a strategy that aims at bridging the North-South gap. Some 20 countries are involved in Interpares, an international cooperation programme that provides digital preservation solutions. In South Africa, cultural and scientific institutions are working together to create a digital archive centre. Nine national institutions in Taiwan are joining forces on a similar project. Why not take things even further? Why not imagine a response along the lines of this novel concept: globalized memory in a globalized world. This approach would take the exact opposite course to the historical model observed until now. Like, for example, the controversy surrounding the National Gallery of London's holdings of the Parthenon sculptures and the people of Greece who say, "Give them back, they are ours." With images and sound, there would be no relocation or national identity problems of this kind. The images of one country, stored and safeguarded by another, can be copied by the first and given to the second without either of them being deprived in the end. Tomorrow, if efforts are pursued and, thanks to digital, a decisive impetus is given, then we can make that crossing for the benefit of a large part of the world's memory. Energies can be channelled to enhance the value of a preserved world audiovisual heritage. Outside of finances, the real problem could then become one of rights and the ensuing forms of egoism. Increasingly specific, increasingly fragmented, the particular rights associated with our souvenirs seem to go against the provisioning of a shared heritage that is accessible to all. Is this a new paradox, a new frontier? The issue of memory was, for a long time, the issue of its media; it now seems to be becoming an issue of the associated rights. Will we be capable of sharing them and organizing access to heritage? The widespread implementation of a legal deposit for audiovisual documents in each country appears to be the best way to remedy this problem for the future. It would ensure the well-planned creation of true audiovisual libraries, which, combined with encryption techniques and copy protection systems, would provide future access, by all, to all the memories of the world. For More InformationOn the Web
Books and journals
|
||||||||||
|
|||||||||||
|
 I About FIAT I Conferences I Projects & Professional standards I Services I Awards I Links I Last update : 01/03/06 © 2006 - FIAT/IFTA |
