The lecture explores the creative and scholarly potential of film fragments within the broader field of audiovisual heritage. Focusing on Eye Filmmuseum’s Bits and Pieces Collection, it examines how unidentified film fragments have become a unique site where archival practice, theoretical reflection, and artistic reuse intersect.
Initiated in the 1980s at the Nederlands Filmmuseum by Eric de Kuyper and Peter Delpeut, the collection consists of short, mostly silent-era film fragments whose original context and authorship are unknown. Preserved and assembled into fifteen-minute reels, these fragments have circulated internationally through festivals, cinémathèques, and museums, and have inspired a wide range of creative practices, including found footage filmmaking and audiovisual remix.
The lecture reflects on the enduring fascination with film fragments and considers how the digitization of audiovisual archives has expanded possibilities for research, curation, and creative reuse.
The lecture will be accompanied by the screening of Lyrical Nitrate (1991) by Peter Delpeut, which is one of the most influential examples of creative archival reuse.
Giovanna Fossati is Professor of Media Heritage, Technology, and Culture at Utrecht University and Research Director of the Institute for Cultural Inquiry (ICON). Formerly Chief Curator at Eye Filmmuseum and Professor of Film Heritage at the University of Amsterdam, her research focuses on audiovisual archiving with a global and sustainable approach.
The event is partially supported by the Lithuanian Film Centre and the Vilnius City Municipality. Prof. Giovanna Fossati’s visit is supported by LMTA and the Erasmus+ programme.
