Tim van der Heijden: “Memory Practices on the Move: Technological Innovations and User Generations in Home Movies” (2012-2016)

Tim van der Heijden: “Memory Practices on the Move: Technological Innovations and User Generations in Home Movies” (2012-2016)

January 2012 – January 2016
Maastricht University
NWO “Changing Platforms of Ritualized Memory Practices. The Cultural Dynamics of Home Movies”
Maastricht University, Department of Literature and Arts
Supervised by: Dr. Andreas Fickers, Dr. Jo Wachelder, Prof. dr. Maaike Meijer (promotor)
tim.vanderheijden[at]maastrichtuniversity[dot]nl
http://homemoviesproject.wordpress.com/

This project focuses on the changing practices of home movie making from a long term perspective. In general, it aims to study how changing technologies of memory production (film, video or digital camera) have shaped new practices and rituals of memory staging (screening in domestic or public venues) and thereby initiated processes of (re)negotiating user generations and (group) identities. The project aims at spanning the whole period from before the introduction of 9,5mm and 16mm for amateur filmmakers, via video to end up with digital and mobile technologies. The research will elaborate upon the multi-dimensional concepts of ‘dispositif’ and ‘user generations’ to analyze the impact of technological innovations on memory practices. It will address its technical dimension (focusing on innovations and the life cycle of products), social dimension (focusing on the family and/or peers as a social frame), and cultural dimension (focusing on archival desires and the construction and reconstruction of memories and identities). The concept of generations and the interactions in and between generations will be a central element of the analysis.