creative writing school
Module 2: Slowness
structure
Introduction
Theory:
Toolbox
Stay grounded & motivated
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Theory:
- Philosophy
- Psychology
- Jonas Mekas: Walden (1969)
- Nanni Moretti: On My Vespa (1993)
Toolbox
Stay grounded & motivated
Share your text with us
introduction
Welcome to the course on Personal Archive, where we will explore the relationship between memory, identity, and storytelling. Drawing on philosophical insights from thinkers like Henri Bergson and Martin Heidegger, we will examine how personal archives serve as sites of self-reflection and narrative construction, allowing us to navigate the complexities of our experiences. Psychologists like Jerome Bruner have highlighted the role of autobiographical memory in shaping our identities, emphasizing the importance of storytelling in this process.
We will also engage with the works of artists such as Jonas Mekas and Nanni Moretti, whose films reflect their personal archives and memories. Mekas’s Walden captures the essence of fleeting moments, inviting us to ponder our own memories through a cinematic lens. Similarly, Moretti’s On My Vespa navigates the themes of nostalgia and personal experience, illustrating how individual narratives intertwine with cultural contexts.
Throughout this course, you will be encouraged to curate your own personal archives, exploring the stories that define you and the memories that shape your identity. By delving into the practice of creative writing, we will uncover the power of storytelling as a tool for self-discovery and expression, ultimately enriching our understanding of ourselves and our connections with others.
We will also engage with the works of artists such as Jonas Mekas and Nanni Moretti, whose films reflect their personal archives and memories. Mekas’s Walden captures the essence of fleeting moments, inviting us to ponder our own memories through a cinematic lens. Similarly, Moretti’s On My Vespa navigates the themes of nostalgia and personal experience, illustrating how individual narratives intertwine with cultural contexts.
Throughout this course, you will be encouraged to curate your own personal archives, exploring the stories that define you and the memories that shape your identity. By delving into the practice of creative writing, we will uncover the power of storytelling as a tool for self-discovery and expression, ultimately enriching our understanding of ourselves and our connections with others.
theory
The concept of a personal archive has garnered increasing interest across various disciplines, including philosophy, psychology, and cultural studies. Personal archives serve as repositories of individual memory, identity, and experience, reflecting the ways in which individuals construct and reconstruct their narratives. Let's explore the philosophical and psychological dimensions of personal archives, examining how they contribute to self-identity, memory, and meaning-making.
Philosophical Perspectives
From a philosophical standpoint, the concept of a personal archive intersects with theories of memory, identity, and the self. The philosopher Henri Bergson (Bergson, H. (1910). Matter and Memory. Translated by N. M. Paul and W. S. Palmer. New York: The Macmillan Company.) distinguished between two forms of memory: mémoire (habitual memory) and souvenir (reflective memory). The former pertains to the unconscious storage of experiences, while the latter involves conscious recollection and narrative construction. Personal archives can be understood as a manifestation of souvenir, where individuals actively curate and select memories that contribute to their self-identity.
Furthermore, the work of Martin Heidegger (Heidegger, M. (1962). Being and Time. Translated by J. Macquarrie and E. Robinson. New York: Harper & Row.) on being and time offers insights into the temporal dimensions of personal archives. Heidegger posited that human existence is inherently temporal, with individuals continuously projecting themselves into the future while being rooted in their past. Personal archives serve as a means of navigating this temporal interplay, allowing individuals to engage with their histories while contemplating their futures. In this context, the archive becomes a site for existential inquiry, where the act of remembering is intertwined with the process of becoming.
In contemporary philosophy, the concept of the archive has been explored by thinkers such as Jacques Derrida (Derrida, J. (1996). Archive Fever: A Freudian Impression. Translated by E. Prenowitz. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.) and Michel Foucault (Foucault, M. (1972). The Archaeology of Knowledge. Translated by A. M. Sheridan Smith. New York: Pantheon Books.). Derrida's notion of the "archival impulse" emphasizes the desire to collect and preserve, highlighting the ways in which personal archives reflect the tension between memory and forgetting. Foucault’s idea of the "discursive archive" suggests that personal archives are not merely collections of documents but are shaped by power relations and societal norms. This perspective invites a critical examination of how personal archives are constructed and the implications of their narratives within broader social contexts.
Furthermore, the work of Martin Heidegger (Heidegger, M. (1962). Being and Time. Translated by J. Macquarrie and E. Robinson. New York: Harper & Row.) on being and time offers insights into the temporal dimensions of personal archives. Heidegger posited that human existence is inherently temporal, with individuals continuously projecting themselves into the future while being rooted in their past. Personal archives serve as a means of navigating this temporal interplay, allowing individuals to engage with their histories while contemplating their futures. In this context, the archive becomes a site for existential inquiry, where the act of remembering is intertwined with the process of becoming.
In contemporary philosophy, the concept of the archive has been explored by thinkers such as Jacques Derrida (Derrida, J. (1996). Archive Fever: A Freudian Impression. Translated by E. Prenowitz. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.) and Michel Foucault (Foucault, M. (1972). The Archaeology of Knowledge. Translated by A. M. Sheridan Smith. New York: Pantheon Books.). Derrida's notion of the "archival impulse" emphasizes the desire to collect and preserve, highlighting the ways in which personal archives reflect the tension between memory and forgetting. Foucault’s idea of the "discursive archive" suggests that personal archives are not merely collections of documents but are shaped by power relations and societal norms. This perspective invites a critical examination of how personal archives are constructed and the implications of their narratives within broader social contexts.
Psychological Perspectives
From a psychological perspective, personal archives are intricately connected to theories of memory and identity formation. Psychologists such as Jerome Bruner (Bruner, J. (1990). Acts of Meaning. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.) have posited that narratives play a crucial role in the construction of self-identity. Personal archives, as collections of narratives and memories, contribute to individuals’ sense of self and their understanding of their place in the world. Bruner argues that storytelling is a fundamental human activity that shapes not only personal identity but also cultural identity.
The concept of autobiographical memory, as explored by researchers like Conway and Pleydell-Pearce (Conway, M. A., & Pleydell-Pearce, C. W. (2000). The Construction of Autobiographical Memories in the Self-Memory System. Psychological Review, 107(2), 261–288.), further elucidates the significance of personal archives. Autobiographical memory refers to the recollection of personal experiences and is considered a key component of self-identity. Personal archives serve as a tool for organizing and interpreting these memories, allowing individuals to create coherent narratives that reflect their lived experiences.
Moreover, personal archives can serve therapeutic functions, as articulated by psychologists like James Pennebaker (Pennebaker, J. W. (1997). Opening Up: The Healing Power of Expressing Emotions. New York: Guilford Press). Pennebaker's research on expressive writing demonstrates that the act of documenting personal experiences can facilitate emotional processing and healing. By creating a personal archive, individuals can confront and make sense of their feelings, leading to greater psychological well-being. This therapeutic aspect underscores the importance of personal archives in the context of mental health and self-reflection.
The concept of autobiographical memory, as explored by researchers like Conway and Pleydell-Pearce (Conway, M. A., & Pleydell-Pearce, C. W. (2000). The Construction of Autobiographical Memories in the Self-Memory System. Psychological Review, 107(2), 261–288.), further elucidates the significance of personal archives. Autobiographical memory refers to the recollection of personal experiences and is considered a key component of self-identity. Personal archives serve as a tool for organizing and interpreting these memories, allowing individuals to create coherent narratives that reflect their lived experiences.
Moreover, personal archives can serve therapeutic functions, as articulated by psychologists like James Pennebaker (Pennebaker, J. W. (1997). Opening Up: The Healing Power of Expressing Emotions. New York: Guilford Press). Pennebaker's research on expressive writing demonstrates that the act of documenting personal experiences can facilitate emotional processing and healing. By creating a personal archive, individuals can confront and make sense of their feelings, leading to greater psychological well-being. This therapeutic aspect underscores the importance of personal archives in the context of mental health and self-reflection.
inspirations
Jonas Mekas: Walden (1969)
Jonas Mekas’s Walden (1969) is a pioneering work of autobiographical cinema that presents a personal archive of his life in New York City through a series of vignettes and poetic reflections. Filmed over a year, Walden captures the ephemeral moments of daily life, emphasizing the significance of the mundane and the personal in shaping one’s identity. Mekas’s use of found footage, diary entries, and intimate glimpses into his life creates a rich tapestry of memory that resonates with the concept of the personal archive. He constructs a narrative that intertwines personal history with broader cultural and political contexts, reflecting the complexities of the immigrant experience and the passage of time. Mekas’s work embodies the idea that personal archives are not merely collections of memories but are dynamic narratives that engage with the broader human experience.
Nanni Moretti: On My Vespa (1993)
Nanni Moretti’s On My Vespa (1993), a short film that is part of his larger work Caro Diario (1994), exemplifies the road movie genre as a personal journey of self-discovery. Moretti, riding his Vespa through the streets of Rome, reflects on his experiences and observations, creating a film that is both autobiographical and meditative. The Vespa serves as a metaphor for freedom and exploration, allowing him to archive his thoughts, feelings, and encounters in a personal and fragmented manner. The road movie context emphasizes the importance of mobility in the construction of personal memory and identity, as the journey becomes a means of both self-discovery and connection to the past. This aligns with the concept of the personal archive, as Moretti's reflections act as a repository of his experiences, echoing the idea that memories are shaped by the spaces we navigate.
creative writing exercises
warm-up exercise: internal road movie
In this warm-up exercise, we will draw inspiration from the road movie genre, particularly Nanni Moretti's On My Vespa, which captures the essence of travel, exploration, and self-discovery. However, instead of traversing physical landscapes, we will embark on a journey through our own bodies.
Instructions:
Instructions:
- Get comfortable: Find a quiet space where you can sit or lie down comfortably. Take a few deep breaths, allowing yourself to relax and tune into your body.
- Body mapping: Begin by closing your eyes and visualizing your body from the inside. Picture each region as a different landscape, filled with textures, colors, and sensations. For example, your heart might feel like a vibrant forest, while your stomach could resemble a vast desert.
- Write your journey: Start writing a narrative that describes your internal journey. Use imagery and sensory details to bring each region of your body to life. Consider how different areas feel emotionally—are there places of tension, comfort, or energy?
- Incorporate movement: As you write, imagine yourself moving through these internal landscapes. How do you navigate the mountains of your shoulders or the rivers of your veins? What discoveries do you make along the way?
- Reflect: After writing for about 10-15 minutes, reflect on your journey. What did you learn about yourself? How does this internal exploration mirror the themes of travel and self-discovery found in road movies?
writing prompt: temporal visual diary inspired by Jonas Mekas
In the spirit of Jonas Mekas's Walden, where everyday moments are transformed into profound reflections, this prompt encourages you to engage with your recent memories through a visual diary.
Instructions:
By the end of this exercise, you will have created an atemporal visual diary that reflects the complexity of your experiences, much like Mekas’s intimate films. Embrace the fluidity of time as you craft your narrative.
Instructions:
- Gather your photos: From your phone, select five photos taken within the last 1-3 weeks. These can be anything that captures a moment—scenes, people, objects, or places.
- Reflect on time: Write a brief description of each photo as if you are looking back on it from a distance of 5 years. What emotions or memories does each photo evoke? What do you notice about your life during that time?
- Shake things up: Now, shift your perspective and write about each photo again, this time imagining you are 10 years in the future. What changes have occurred? How do these moments fit into your life story?
- Create the cocktail: After writing these two reflections for each photo, mix and mash them together into a single narrative. Allow the voices of past and future to intertwine, creating a temporally confusing yet rich tapestry of your life.
- Connect with Mekas: As you write, think about Mekas's style—his emphasis on the fleeting nature of time and memory, and how he captures the ordinary, the everyday life. Use fragments, disjointed thoughts, or stream-of-consciousness to mirror his cinematic approach.
By the end of this exercise, you will have created an atemporal visual diary that reflects the complexity of your experiences, much like Mekas’s intimate films. Embrace the fluidity of time as you craft your narrative.
toolbox
This toolbox is designed to help you rethink, reshape, and recontextualize the traditional forms of the road movie and diary, taking them beyond their established conventions. By breaking the rules and merging genres, we invite you to approach these narrative structures with fresh perspectives and new possibilities.
1. Road movie:
Characteristic: The road movie typically follows a protagonist on a journey, either physical or metaphorical, that leads to transformation through movement across landscapes.
Reinvention:
2. Diary: From linear log to fragmented mosaic
Traditional characteristic: Diaries are usually chronological, personal reflections on day-to-day experiences, with an emphasis on memory, time, and self-expression.
Reinvention:
1. Road movie:
Characteristic: The road movie typically follows a protagonist on a journey, either physical or metaphorical, that leads to transformation through movement across landscapes.
Reinvention:
- Turn outward exploration inward: Instead of charting external landscapes, reimagine the road movie as an inward journey—an exploration of emotions, memories, or psychological states. The road becomes a metaphor for navigating your inner world.
- Fragment the journey: Break the linear structure of travel. Your character doesn’t have to move from point A to point B. Consider circular, recursive, or non-linear paths—journeys that fold back onto themselves.
- Create hybrid landscapes: Imagine surreal or abstract landscapes that blur the line between the real world and the inner world. Merging emotional states with physical settings can create disorienting, dream-like spaces.
2. Diary: From linear log to fragmented mosaic
Traditional characteristic: Diaries are usually chronological, personal reflections on day-to-day experiences, with an emphasis on memory, time, and self-expression.
Reinvention:
- Disrupt chronology: Break free from the linear progression of time. Allow past, present, and future to collide in your entries. Instead of a day-by-day format, try assembling moments without clear timestamps, so the narrative feels like a fragmented mosaic.
- Blur fact and fiction: Diaries are often personal and confessional, but what if they combined reality with imaginative fiction? Experiment with fictionalizing your own life or blending real events with fictional characters and scenarios.
- Use sensory diaries: Instead of focusing on thoughts and events, try a diary made up of sensory impressions—what did you smell, taste, touch, or hear? Let each entry focus entirely on one sense, creating a rich, multi-layered reflection of experience.
stay grounded and motivated!
"I began my practice with personal archives—specifically with vernacular photos, old family albums, pieces of other people’s lives. Strangely enough, these were the archives of people I never knew. There was something almost surreal about having access to such intimate moments—their memories, their visual diaries—yet never having met them, never knowing the stories behind those captured images. And in this gap, where I lacked the context of their real lives, I found freedom. The freedom to imagine, to construct narratives, to piece together fictions that, while grounded in reality, became their own new stories.
Susan Sontag once said that "a photograph is both a pseudo-presence and a token of absence." And in working with these archives, I lived that paradox. The images were real, tangible proof of someone’s life, yet the lives themselves were absent. This opened a door for me to reinvent, to fill in the gaps with my own imagination. And in this process, I realized that personal archives—whether our own or those of strangers—can become something larger. They are not just records of the past, but spaces of infinite possibility.
As we close this chapter on personal archives, I want to encourage you to approach your own memories, your own collections, with a sense of playfulness and freedom. Don’t be afraid to rearrange the pieces, to imagine new stories, to embrace the fictional and the real. Your personal archive is not fixed—it’s alive, constantly shifting and growing with you. Use it not only to reflect on the past but to dream of new futures. Allow your archive to speak, not just of what has been, but of what could be. This is your story, use your power to shape it."
—Anna Ádám
Founder of the School of Disobedience
Susan Sontag once said that "a photograph is both a pseudo-presence and a token of absence." And in working with these archives, I lived that paradox. The images were real, tangible proof of someone’s life, yet the lives themselves were absent. This opened a door for me to reinvent, to fill in the gaps with my own imagination. And in this process, I realized that personal archives—whether our own or those of strangers—can become something larger. They are not just records of the past, but spaces of infinite possibility.
As we close this chapter on personal archives, I want to encourage you to approach your own memories, your own collections, with a sense of playfulness and freedom. Don’t be afraid to rearrange the pieces, to imagine new stories, to embrace the fictional and the real. Your personal archive is not fixed—it’s alive, constantly shifting and growing with you. Use it not only to reflect on the past but to dream of new futures. Allow your archive to speak, not just of what has been, but of what could be. This is your story, use your power to shape it."
—Anna Ádám
Founder of the School of Disobedience
Photo:Fortepan / Fortepan / Ránki Júlia