"6:31 minutes of European history" 2003 videoprojection, sound, archival material provided by Netherlands Filmmuseum In the video "6:31minutes of European history" I have used archival footage of newsreels, in order to construct a personal narrative and interpretation of history and memory. The newsreels have bequeathed an enduringly important record of the twentieth century, preserving in motion pictures not only the major news stories and personalities of the era, but the inconsequential, passing subjects that mattered, or amused at the time. I continue the process of fragmentation that is present in the original material, ending in a collage of time fragments which are free to the viewer to invest them with signification in their own way. The original films record and depict "real" past events. The fragmented parts of the documentary footage re-used in "6.31" are like parts of a collective memory arising in an unexpected, subjective order. I rearranged parts of a story to a non linear structure, a mechanism: from the person – personal space, to the crowd – public space and finally to the organized masses – the "mechanical man", that seems to have infinite repetitions. The ephemeral becomes diachronic. (presented at "Light I image I reality" 2003 and the 1st Biennial of Netherlands FILMMUSEUM 2003) This collage of time fragments, seen from the present point of view, cease to be just historical memories, but also becomes a memory of the future. Archival footage provided by Netherlands Filmmuseum