From 20-28 March 2026, The Netherlands Institute at Athens is organizing the intensive Spring School “Audio Visual Methods in Collaborative Archaeology: Exploring the Politics of Heritage”.
The Spring School is addressed to students in archaeology and heritage studies, BA (last year), Master, Research Masters, & PhD and is organized in collaboration with the Faculty of Archaeology of Leiden University.
Audio-visual applications are nowadays broadly used in heritage and museum studies, fostering communication between researchers and visitors as well as the promotion of heritage sites and museum collections. Furthermore, as digital media has become increasingly affordable and accessible, visual representation is expanding across several dimensions in archaeology, becoming a prominent tool of analysis and collaboration within the discipline.
By discussing the available methodological tools and critically reflecting on their application, this intensive course focuses on how such tools can be incorporated ethically into collaborative archaeological research. For this, the program includes a basic introductory course on audio-visual methods in one of the most challenging urban landscapes of Europe, where archaeology and the politics of heritage management intersect in unique ways.
During this course, participants will collaboratively produce short films featuring alternative archaeological narratives about the many relationships between the people, archaeological materiality, and discourse. Only a limited number of successful videos will be given the permission by the Institute to be uploaded on social media and to be presented on various venues after the school. Dedication to this course is full time during the stay in Athens.
