PhD Defence: Christian Gosvig Olesen (University of Amsterdam)

When? Wednesday 10 May 2017, 14:00
Where? Agnietenkapel at the University of Amsterdam, Oudezijds Voorburgwal 229-231, Amsterdam.
The doors close at the exact time and latecomers will not be able to enter.

On Wednesday 10 May 2017, Christian Gosvig Olesen will defend his PhD Dissertation Film History in the Making – Film Historiography, Digitised Archives and Digital Research Dispositifs. The research project investigates the implications which digitisation in film archives bears upon film historical research in primarily academic settings. It adresses the need for understanding the consequences of digitisation for film historical methodology to develop a critical framework for evaluating and conceptualising digital archive-based scholarship. From this point of departure, it produces both a historical account of digital scholarship in film historiography and suggestions for further developments of digital research methodology. To this end, it discusses in a historical perspective how the conception of film archives as a source of film history has developed, from the ”first wave” of scientific film archives founded in the 1910s, over filmic appropriation art in the 1970s to scholarly Hyperkino presentations of silent cinema a century later.

The ceremony will open with a general introduction to the research project which will last approximately 10 minutes and is followed by a defence of 45 minutes. After the defence a reception will be held on the floor below the Agnietenkapel where attendees are cordially invited to join the celebration.

You can read more about Christian Gosvig Olesen’s project and the research process on his research blog.