Entsammlung
The video essay «Entsammlung» addresses practices of erasing and rewriting history through the example of the city archive of Uster. Each year, archival experts decide which publications and documents will be preserved and where gaps will deliberately be created; almost one ton of material is removed from the archive annually and sent to industrial recycling. The film follows the moment of destruction and reframes it as a poetic investigation into how institutional procedures, material infrastructures, and acts of disposal shape what can be remembered. «Entsammlung» received a Special Mention of the Prix Photoforum.
Film and concept: Claudia Breitschmid; sound and voice: Franziska Bruecker; sound recording: James Ritter
HD video (loop), colour; sound, stereo, 6:00
2021