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Archive Seminar. Visual Storytelling in the Archive
Last Updated: 2026-06-01 11:32:58
Abstract
In the setting of the gta Archive, students will engage in archival research on architecture. In pairs, they will analyse archival items and select the evidence to formulate and visually convey a historical argument. The resulting narratives will be represented as scripted short films (3-5 minutes long).
Objective
The Archive Seminar aims to train students to analyse, evaluate, and select archival items to support a given hypothesis. This archival evidence will be used to create historical narratives, which the students will present as short, scripted videos. By the end of this course, students will be able to: • Differentiate between various archival concepts; discuss the archive’s societal and academic relevance • Independently identify and interpret various types of research evidence to formulate a research hypothesis • Systematically select, evaluate, analyse, and categorise research evidence (archival or from scientific literature) • Order the archival evidence to create a viable historical narrative • Develop graphic representations of the historical narrative as a storyboard • Learn and implement digital editing and Generative AI skills for efficient video production and communication • Create short, edited videos conveying a historical narrative through a selection of archival evidence. The course fosters subject specific as well as transferable competencies.
Content
The gta Archive is one of the most significant architectural repositories in Europe: located at ETH Zurich, yet relatively little used by students. The Archive Seminar unlocks this didactic potential by showing how students can work with archival material, how to engage in archival research, and how to formulate and visually represent historical narratives. Under guidance in an archival setting, students will analyse original and digitised archival items. 20-25 of these will be selected as pieces of evidence, with which the students, working in pairs, will construct short historical narratives, which they will represent through graphic storyboards and scripted short films. The seminar outcome will be a number of short videos (3-5 minutes long), which will be uploaded to an accessible online database. The course is conceived in collaboration with MML (Media and Learning Experience Designers) at ETH Zurich Teaching and Learning. WK1 21.02.25 Archival Evidence and Historical Narrative WK2 28.02.25 Teams and themes I WK3 07.03.25 Visual narrative: script and storyboard WK4 14.03.25 Teams and themes II WK5 21.03.25 Seminar week (break) WK6 28.03.25 Desk tutorials WK7 04.04.25 Tools for audio-visual communication WK8 11.04.25 Mid-term reviews WK9 18.04.25 Easter Friday WK10 25.04.25 Semester Break WK11 02.05.25 First Screening: Roughcut submission WK12 09.05.25 Desk tutorials WK13 16.05.25 Final Screening WK14 23.05.25 Course feedback
Resources
Lecture Notes
Handouts will be handed in during the seminar classes.
Literature
Aggregate. Writing Architectural History: Evidence and Narrative in the Twenty-First Century. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2021. Chateigné, Yann, Dagnar Füchtjohann, Yann Chateigné, Yann Chateigné Tytelman, Dagmar Füchtjohann, Johanna Hoth, Laurent Schmid, et al. The Archive as a Productive Space of Conflict. Berlin: Sternberg Press, 2016. Greene, Mark A. ‘A Critique of Social Justice as an Archival Imperative: What Is It We’re Doing That’s All That Important?’ The American Archivist 76, no. 2 (2013): 302–34. https://www.jstor.org/stable/43490357 . Gunn, Simon. Research Methods for History. 1st ed. Research Methods for the Arts and Humanities. Edinburgh: University Press, 2011. Millar, Laura A. Archives: Principles and Practices. 2nd ed. Principles and Practice in Records Management and Archives. London: Facet Publ, 2017. Ramirez, Mario H. ‘Being Assumed Not to Be: A Critique of Whiteness as an Archival Imperative’. The American Archivist 78, no. 2 (1 September 2015): 339–56. https://doi.org/10.17723/0360-9081.78.2.339 . Stoler, Ann Laura. Along the Archival Grain: Epistemic Anxieties and Colonial Common Sense. Course Book. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2009. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400835478 . Yaneva, Albena. Crafting History: Archiving and the Quest for Architectural Legacy. Expertise: Cultures and Technologies of Knowledge. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781501751837 .
General Information
- Language
- English
- Levels
- DR , MSC
- Frequency
- Yearly recurring
Examination
- Type
- graded semester performance
Registration & Places
Course Components
| Type | Title | Time & Place | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| seminar |
Archive Seminar. Visual Storytelling in the Archive
Permission from lecturers required for all students.
No course on 21.03.2025 (seminar week) and in the last week of the semester (final reviews week). The seminar will be conducted in English; however, students must be able to read and understand German sources as these form the majority of material at gta Archive.
|
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4 h weekly |
Offered In
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Doktorat Architektur (Mehr Informationen unter: )