The Moving Image Archive as Research Laboratory Ten Years On

This chapter reflects on three areas where current moving image archive practices have shifted over the past decade, posing new conceptual challenges. These are: digitization and its impact on the preservation, access, research and presentation of film apparatuses; the research laboratory as both a local and distributed site of knowledge production, shaped by changing global actors; and the future role of moving image archives in shaping sustainable, future-oriented technological imaginaries that challenge prevailing developments and their links to archival apparatuses. The chapter draws especially on insights from The Sensory Moving Image Archive (2017–2020), Narratives from the Long Tail (2021–2025), and the Global Audiovisual Archiving (2022–) projects, connecting them to wider debates in film archiving.