Scratches and Glitches

Observations on Preserving and Exhibiting Cinema in the Early 21st Century

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by Jurij Meden

Type

Studies

Subject

Economics

Keywords

Film library, preservation

Publishing date

2021

Publisher

Austrian Film Museum

Collection

Filmmuseumsynemapublications

Language

English

Relative size

Physical desc.

Paperback • 112 pages
6 ½ x 8 ¾ inches (16.5 x 22 cm)

ISBN

978-3-901644-87-0

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Book Presentation:
A quick succession of changes – some entirely expected, some less so – has drastically reshaped the domain of preserving and exhibiting film heritage in the first two decades of the 21st century. Film production, exhibition, restoration and reflection became predominantly, almost exclusively digital affairs. Professional profiles became obsolete and new ones have emerged. Other forms of art and entertainment took the center stage of collective dreams and discussions. The principles of curatorship clashed with the idea of access. Streaming took over the world as the predominant way of experiencing moving images and private space trumped public space as the primary site of these experiences. Scratches and Glitches is a collection of essays that attempt to make sense of these changes-in-progress in the wider context of cultural history, focusing on the responsibility of film archives and museums, guardians of film heritage.

About the Author:
Jurij Meden is a curator at the Austrian Film Museum in Vienna. Previously he worked as head of the program department at the Slovenian Cinematheque in Ljubljana and curator of film exhibitions at the George Eastman Museum in Rochester, New York. He helped preserve and restore a number of Yugoslavian experimental films. He also worked as editor at the scientific and academic publishing house Sophia in Ljubljana, editor-in-chief of KINO! journal for cinema, poetry and politics, and co-director of the Nitrate Picture Show, festival of film conservation. He is the recipient of the 2017 Jon Garlock Labor Educator of the Year Award.

Press Reviews:
Deceptively slight, refreshingly modest, and more entertaining than a book of cultural theory has any right to be. Jared Rapfogel, Cineaste

In Scratches and Glitches, [Meden] is . . . taking the occasion . . . to think of film, all film, as its physical traces, as a continuum of varied sensations, ideas, impressions all churning together in a single flow. Christopher Small, Mubi

Scratches and Glitches subverts expectation. The Film Stage

Scratches and Glitches is an urgently important and fun book. Adrian Martin, Ubiquarian

This book is eclectic. Journal of Film Preservation

Had I been 18 years old when first reading this book, I would have embraced film curatorship as my preferred tool for political activism. Instead, I can only read one chapter each day, start all over again when I’m finished, and tell everyone that cinema can still change your life. With his blend of ethical drive, razor-sharp logic and understated humor, Jurij Meden has given us a cultural manifesto and a jargon-free guide to the difficult art of seeing. Up, spectators, to arms! This is an act of civil disobedience of the highest order. Paolo Cherchi Usai, film curator and historian

See the publisher website: Austrian Film Museum