Unarchive Complexity is an event to transmit the science of complex systems through the CNRS’s scientific audiovisual heritage.

Inspired by the international festival for the creative reuse of archives, Unarchive – Found Footage Fest (Rome, Italy)—which each year brings together a selection of films created from film archives of all kinds and from all geographic origins—Unarchive Complexity aims to place the scientific audiovisual archive back at the center of audiovisual creation and science communication.

Often perceived as specialized, technical documents or materials reserved for researchers, scientific archives are thus transformed into narrative and artistic works, helping to make science more accessible, relatable, and tangible.

This approach is part of a French tradition that, through Jean Painlevé—and notably his film Vampire (1945)—demonstrates how scientific images—in this case, observations of bats and crustaceans—can become vehicles for a political narrative. Painlevé’s work illustrates the metaphorical power of scientific cinema, which is capable of combining documentary rigor with critical imagination.

Drawing inspiration from the processes of transformation and recycling found in living organisms, the project also examines our contemporary modes of image and knowledge production. This approach is thus aligned with current environmental challenges as resource conservation, circularity, material transformation…

Finally, the project opens the door to workshops, performances, and collaborative initiatives in which audiences—the general public, college students, and high school classes—can handle, reassemble, or reinterpret the scientific archives themselves. This active dimension transforms the spectator into an active participant.

The Event at a Glance
The event will combine science outreach, screenings and discussions of archival films, roundtable discussions, exhibitions, and science workshops. It will also feature films that creatively repurpose scientific archives, selected through an open call for submissions.

A creative editing marathon, based on a collection of scientific archives, will also be offered to the public. The short films produced will be screened on October 9, and a prize will be awarded to the three best short films.

Event Partners
CNRS Images – Archives Division

Archivio Audiovisivo de Movimento Operaio e Democratico (The Audiovisual Archive of the Workers’ and Democratic Movement ) (Italy)

British Film Institut National Archive (UK)

Institut de Cinématographie Scientifique (France)

University of Montreal (Department of Art History, Film, and Audiovisual Media) (Canada)

Université Sorbonne Nouvelle (Cinémathèque Centrale de l’Enseignement Public) (France)

Sciencis – Science Communication Company

Event Organizers
Francesca Barbieri – ISC-PIF / CNRS

Céline Ferlita – ARDIS / CNRS

Cathérine Ventenat, Laura Moncet – Archives Division / CNRS Images

In collaboration with

Espen Bale – British Film Institut National Archive (UK)

André Habib – Département d’histoire de l’art, de cinéma et des médias audiovisuels / Université de Montréal

Alexis Martinet – Institut de Cinématographie Scientifique

Frédéric Rolland – Cinémathèque Centrale de l’Enseignement Public de l’Université Sorbonne Nouvelle

Staff of the Archivio Audiovisivo de Movimento Operaio e Democratico (The Audiovisual Archive of the Workers’ and Democratic Movement ) in Rome (Italy)