When the Department of Sociology and Anthropology of the University of Amsterdam moved out from the Spinhuis, a characteristic old building in the centre of Amsterdam, the move was accompanied by ‘Operation PaperWeight’ to reduce the amount of books and paper documents (Opgeruimd naar het Roeterseiland). This was deemed necessary because the new building, the large-scale ‘modern’ university campus Roeterseiland, has limited storage space. It is a digitized and partly ‘flex-working’ office.

Farewell Spinhuis documents how students and staff experience the move. Their responses range from sadness to criticism and from cooperation to protest. Clearing out one’s personal research archive evokes memories, uncertainty, and concerns over the consequences of paper destruction for academic research. Classes and graduations continue as everyone prepares for the inevitable farewell.

Farewell Spinhuis was made in Amsterdam by Annelise Reid, Lisa Christiaanse, Phyllis Meyjes, and Sanderien Verstappen, 2014 (26 minutes).

Find more information about the film in Tijdschrift CUL.