Ethics and the Archive: Access, Appropriation, Exhibition
Ethics and Integrity in Visual Research Methods
ISBN: 978-1-78769-420-0, eISBN: 978-1-78769-419-4
Publication date: 5 June 2020
Abstract
Archive footage is now a staple of much cinematic and broadcast production. This chapter explores some of the ways in which archival material has been recycled and considers some of the tensions between filmmakers, archivists, and audiences throughout the process of research, production, and screening. It considers some of the controversies associated with the repositioning of material in short-form, narrative and documentary filmmaking, particularly in relation to content that was never intended for exhibition in the public sphere. Drawing upon Benjaminian ideas of accessing authenticity in a form that has been reproduced, it considers the responsibility of both filmmaker and viewer in critiquing moving image content that has borrowed, self-consciously or surreptitiously, from earlier filmic forms. It concludes by making recommendations for an ethical approach to recycling archival material in research contexts that are pertinent to the burgeoning field of academic creative practice, with a particular focus on the stakeholders involved and a reasonable contextual positioning of the source material in its remediated form.
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Acknowledgements
Acknowledgements
Thanks to Rod Stoneman for his enthusiastic discussions and generous feedback on this chapter and for highlighting many useful examples of complex archival reuse.
Citation
Chambers, C. (2020), "Ethics and the Archive: Access, Appropriation, Exhibition", Dodd, S. (Ed.) Ethics and Integrity in Visual Research Methods (Advances in Research Ethics and Integrity, Vol. 5), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 133-151. https://doi.org/10.1108/S2398-601820200000005013
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2020 Emerald Publishing Limited