University Laboratory of Image and Memory

 

The University Laboratory of Image and Memory (LUIM) is a research and documentation entity of the cultural heritage, documentary and immaterial, belonging to the Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, which contributes to the management, conservation and dissemination of photographic, sound and audiovisual materials linked to the material and immaterial cultural heritage of the various human and cultural groups in Puebla and the rest of Latin America.

 

Areas of the LUIM

The aim of LUIM is to contribute to the development of institutional policies of internationalization, regionalization and high-level academic production for global impact, through academic actions and projects that, according to the University's regulatory framework, establish processes for management, conservation and social research of photographic, sound and audiovisual heritage linked to the cultural heritage of our University, our country and our Latin American region, promoting operational mechanisms to facilitate the tasks mentioned under international standards of conservation and scientific production.

From the implementation of the Laboratory as a university, transdisciplinary and scientific project, we seek to become a leading entity in the research and documentation of cultural heritage based on image and memory in Latin America.

Background

As part of our academic work within the Faculty of Communication Sciences of the BUAP, we developed the interinstitutional project: LUIM - University Image and Memory Laboratory for social research and heritage management. We designed the Laboratory with the participation and opinion of experts in the area, an extensive knowledge about the issues of image and memory supported by our academic productivity of more than 15 years and two years of international research on construction of this project, with academic visits to specialists and entities with objectives similar to ours, in seven countries from different regions, including ours, where colleagues from archives, universities, photo libraries, museums and projects related to image and memory brought us knowledge, experience, academic interest and solidarity links.

The LUIM emerges as an inter-institutional and transdisciplinary project; It is enriched by the disciplines of communication, history and anthropology, as well as various branches that the previous ones provide: communication for social change, ethnohistory, ethnography, oral history and ethnology among others.

 

LUIM areas

• Photography area: Performs processes of digitization and cataloging of historical and contemporary materials derived from analog photographic techniques.

  • Photographic scanning station

  • Chemical photography laboratory

  • Archive station and photographic catalog

     

 

• Audiovisual and sound area: Cataloging and safeguard of sound and audiovisual materials related to intangible cultural heritage, for its preservation and research.

  • Audio and audiovisual digitization and cataloging station

  • Station for the production of sound and audiovisual materials.

 

 

 

• Research and dissemination area: Development of social research projects around the documentary funds that the Laboratory receives, as well as the dissemination of the Laboratory's products. Additionally, specialized courses and links with social entities, academic groups, vulnerable groups, etc. are developed and taught.

 

 

• Material conservation area: Classification, cleaning, evaluation and conservation of objects derived from chemical photography and analog video.

  • File with control of humidity, luminosity and temperature.