The Non Identified Video Observatory has been curating a media archive for over three decades. The archive includes diverse materials, texts, media artifacts, and research results. Beginning in 2020, we have expanded the boundaries of our archive beyond preservation and initiated a long-term project of Archive Interpretations: a series of web-based explorations that reanimate the contents of the archive through conceptual, temporal, and contextual reconsiderations. These interpretations build bridges between issues of the past and those of the present, transforming historical materials into living tools for critical reflection.
Archive Interpretations are non-linear, experimental engagements with the thematic lines, concepts, and cultural resonances of the archive. Rejecting static cataloging, these publications take advantage of the web space to recontextualize the archive's holdings. Revisiting past research through contemporary lenses, we invert assumptions, parallel current socio-technological shifts, and explore ongoing tensions in media theory and practice.
This approach does not simply historicize. It activates the archive as a site of contrast, where each interpretation underscores how memory informs contemporary critique, challenging linear narratives of progress or obsolescence. The series unfolds irregularly, reflecting the unsystematic nature of cultural memory itself, prioritizing depth over frequency.
Archive Interpretations 2025 pivots toward intensified theoretical inquiry. While previous installments have focused on material analysis, the upcoming series will question the conceptual framing of the archive itself. Central to our project is the conviction that archives are not only repositories, but also provocations that resist nostalgia. This positions the archive as a partner in contemporary discourse - a means of "thinking with" rather than "about" history.
