CfP: All that is Solid — A Media History in n+1 sources

For the fifth meeting of Media History | CH, association for media historians and media scholars, curators, and archivists in Switzerland, we call for contributions that exemplify the variety of historical sources used for doing media history.  

Despite their seemingly immaterial nature, the fluid operations of telecommunications, logistics, and global financial trade depend on increasingly large amounts of physical matter. The more connected and networked the world becomes, the more it relies on larger objects and buildings that are stationary. As flows seem to evaporate in thin air, all that is solid remains— leaving enduring traces of an otherwise fleeting world of exchange.

Multiple types and genres of paperwork, photographs, drawings, and other audiovisual materials are essential to examine all that is solid. They bring the thin air into the ground. These archival traces constitute the core of media theories and architectural histories and are crucial to defining our disciplinary sphere of competence. This two-day workshop aims to gather and discuss sources used in research projects in Swiss universities or dealing with Swiss media to share methodological insights, provide practical tools, and discuss difficulties related to archival access and preservation

More specifically, each participant is invited to: 

1.  “Bring” your source, if possible, in its original material dimension

2.   Explain and discuss the source in elevator-pitch style (max. 5’) 

3.   Convey how the source opens up historical worlds.

We invite scholars, archivists, and curators to submit a 100-word abstract with the source they want to discuss and address the 3 points mentioned above. The abstracts should be sent to hitam@epfl.ch by September 15th, 2025, and notifications of acceptance will be sent out by 30th of September 2025. 

A keynote lecture by Prof. Irina Podgorny (CONICET and Paris VII) will take place on the afternoon of Thursday, 13^th November 2025 at 18.30.