Vilém-Flusser-Archiv: research for the transference of a mirror archive of Vilém Flusser's writings to the city of São Paulo

• Grant number: 12/18834-2
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: December 01, 2012
• End date: November 30, 2013
• Field of knowledge: Applied Social Sciences - Communications - Theory of Communication
• Principal Investigator: Norval Baitello Junior
• Grantee: Norval Baitello Junior
• Host Institution: Pró-Reitoria de Pós-Graduação (PRPG). Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo (PUC-SP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated researchers: Jorge Miklos

Abstract

This project's main objective is to provide technical support to the full transfer of a copy of the documents in Flusser Archive - based at the University of Arts in Berlin - to the city São Paulo. This project will work to consolidate the agreement already established with the University of Arts in Berlin, trough its rector, Prof. Dr. Martin Rennert and Siegfried Zielinski - professor responsible for the Archive - in which the authorization to construct a Mirror-Archive in São Paulo was granted, in which a total copy of the documents (tiposcripts, manuscripts and copies of published articles) that exist will be done. The archive in Berlin is open to researchers from around the world, receiving an average of 20 to 30 researchers from Brazil per year. It is noteworthy that the number of Brazilian researchers who have been interested in the work of Flusser is growing, since his thinking is an important tool for understanding the new phenomena of media, enabled by computerization and by the digital networks. Not only at PUC-SP are, today a large number of researchers and teachers who are dedicated to the thought of Flusser, but also at many others brazilian universities, and at the Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Semiotics of Culture and Media (CISC) founded in 1992 under the cientific direction of Norval Baitello Jr., which had the pioneer role of publicizing Flusser as one of the main theoretical references in new media, is also this same Center that will house the Mirror-Archive. The Archive comprises about 2,500 manuscripts of his essays (with a varying from three to one hundred pages each) and books, as well as his correspondence, totaling approximately 30,000 pages (in paper, not yet digitalized). Most of the text was written in Portuguese, then in German and a small share in English. The Brazilian Archive will also provide free access to all documents. Once all the original documents are in the Historical Archive in Cologne, it Will be necessary to expand the Field research to this city, in order to complement what already exist in Berlin. (AU)