Collecting pop-culture: A few words about anime archiving and Japanese movie memorabilia

Abstract

The presented article concerns the issue of collecting film memorabilia, with a particular emphasis on the Japanese artefacts related to anime production. Beginning with a brief introduction to the differences between collections and archives, the author aims to present the current state of research on the categorization of popular culture memorabilia. The following parts of the article underline the importance of considering Japanese post-animation products as historical resources. Regarding the ways of presentation of selected works in galleries, the author provides such case-study examples of exhibitions as A World Is Born: The Emerging Arts and Designs in 1980s Japanese Animation (Singapore 2018, Stockholm 2019) and Proto Anime Cut — Spaces and Visions in Japanese Animation (International, 2011–2012). A significant part of the article is devoted to the description and analysis of the presence of Japanese anime memorabilia in European and Polish collections, which shows the rapid development of interest in collecting popular culture.