Wherever I am, the world comes after me.
It offers me its busyness. It does not believe that I do not want it.
Now I understand why the old poets of China went so far
and high into the mountains, then crept into the pale mist.
"The Old Poets of China" by Mary Oliver

From Negatives to Narratives: The Analog Heritage of the Asian Center  |  A Public Lecture and Exhibit

Details

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The UP Asian Center will be holding the onsite public lecture and exhibit "From Negatives to Narratives: The Analog Heritage of the Asian Center" on 23 February 2026, 1:00 - 3:30 PM, PST (GMT+8), at the Seminar Room, UP Asian Center, University of the Philippines Diliman. The exhibit will be displayed at the Hall of Wisdom lobby from 23 to 28 February 2026. The event is free and open to the public. Online pre-registration is recommended due to limited seating. 

  

ABOUT THE LECTURE AND EXHIBIT

From Negatives to Narratives is an exhibit that foregrounds the Asian Center’s rich analog heritage and its long-standing role in documenting Philippine cultures, histories, and scholarly work through photographic, filmic, and audiovisual media. The Center’s archival holdings, including negative films, photographs, and early instructional technologies such as typewriters, projectors, and cameras, reflect earlier modes of research, teaching, and knowledge production in the pre-digital era. Together, these materials embody the institutional memory of the Asian Center and testify to its sustained commitment to cultural documentation, pedagogy, and interdisciplinary scholarship.

Integral to this legacy is the work of Joseph R. Fortin, whose contributions as photographer, filmmaker, and lecturer supported the formation and preservation of the Asian Center’s visual archive. Beyond his technical practice, Fortin also shared his expertise through teaching film production and visual storytelling to students and media practitioners, reinforcing the educational mission connected to the Asian Center’s media resources. Through digitization and curatorial presentation, the exhibit transforms fragile analog records into accessible narratives, ensuring the continuity of the Asian Center’s visual history while reconnecting contemporary audiences with the people, practices, and pedagogies behind its creation.

Digitizing Fortin’s negative films into usable positives for display fulfills two essential goals:

      • Preservation: Safeguarding decaying materials by creating digital surrogates.
      • Accessibility: Transforming hidden archives into public narratives through exhibition.

The exhibit bridges memory, media, and material culture, offering an immersive glimpse into the Asian Center’s formative decades.

OBJECTIVES

    1. Digitize and produce positive images from Joseph Fortin’s negative films, ensuring archival quality through best practices in scanning and post-processing.
    2. Exhibit these digitized images with contextual information, alongside analog artifacts that defined academic and archival practices at the Asian Center.
    3. Educate visitors on the analog-to-digital transformation process, digitization workflows, challenges, and ethical considerations.
    4. Honor Joseph Fortin’s technical contributions to and institutional memory of the Asian Center that underpin cultural-historical continuity.