Memory has a knack of being both malleable and fallible at times. As time marches on, so do our brains edit out the details of our personal histories, our most cherished moments becoming merely footnotes to the chapters of life.

Pictures, however, have the potential to retell our tales long after we have lived them.

To sustain the metaphor, Magna Żmien (time machine) is an informed reader of life’s footnotes and chapters. The project, set up by like-minded people from a variety of professions, has undertaken the task of unlocking these forgotten memories – pictures, videos and recordings of the past, trapped on analogue formats.

The project is more or less an experiment in crowd-sourcing archival content, calling on the public to bring in their personal collections. The real work is in transforming these collections, most of which cannot be viewed due to their reliance on obsolete technologies, into viewable digital formats.

“Without going digital, these memories cannot survive,” says project director Andrew Alamango, whose own work in music and archival studies has led him to explore similar concepts before.

“Archival content is a point of reference that gives us a nostalgia for the tangible.”

The project has an interesting perspective on the impact of its work. Browsing through the collection – visions of children clambering over Neolithic sights; grainy, skipping footage of vintage families on the beaches of summers past – the sense of longing for the joys of past generations are almost palpable.

Malta has no great history of archival restoration, with the main sources of archival content coming largely from the Department of Information, set up in 1939, and the National Archives, which date back to the 16th century. Documentation by State authority, however extensive that may be, tends to be on a broader national level, often having a selective understanding of what constitutes as ‘significant’.

But the introduction of personal recording devices democratised the documentation as well as the definitionof significance. Things that are documented by the people, facilitated by the introduction of new formats, presented a different narrative and provided insight to histories on a regional as well as a personal level.

The introduction of recording devices that were available to the public allowed people to document their own histories and dictate the content as well as the length.

“People were limited by the limitations of the format, however, their control over content allowed a certain personal freedom as well as variation from state-sanctioned narratives,” Alamango says.

The project is currently seeking out five types of format; open audio reel (or ribbon tape), audio cassettes, Maltese records, Cine 8 film, photographs and slides.

The material presented in these formats is characteristic of every decade in which they became prevalent.

The rate at which society alters is also the rate at which it loses its memory

“The way people react to the camera is always telling,” Alamango says.

In the earlier days, people didn’t really know what a camera was or how it functioned, and many early recordings often feature little movement and vacant, motionless stares. Progressively, as materials and equipment became less expensive and more widely available, footage became more jovial and animated, with people waving, laughing and moving, consciously recognising the act of documentation.

The preservation of these collections is of “paramount importance” not because they communicate great value or landmark events, but rather because they capture unique aspects of life that are intrinsically Maltese.

“There is always some resistance to change,” Alamango says. “And because we have a habit of burying our past in response to it, it’s really important that these materials are preserved, because the rate at which society alters is also the rate at which it loses its memory.

“The existence of these materials in our State libraries are limited,” he continues, “but what we really aim to do is collect people’s local and regional narratives and restore access to them, as well as submitting them to the National Archives for safekeeping and official documentation.”

The British Library and Unesco are running similar projects, giving people until 2025 to submit their materials for digitisation, so Magna Żmien has come by at a crucial time in the quest to save memories.

“People have a curiosity for their heritage and culture on a personal level as well as a national one, but losing touch with that heritage can also mean severing part of your identity.”

One need not look too far afield to see a growing disregard for national heritage. Access to personal memories can be powerful as it not only provides a point of reference but builds a relationship with where you come from.

So far the project has received submissions from around 30 collections and includes recordings of Maltese għana and recorded messages of Maltese expats in foreign countries sending greetings to their relatives. In these, the loss is tangible despite the prosperity of foreign shores – the ties that bind them back to the island can be felt echoing across decades.

The point, however, is not for these memories to remain stagnant but to be seen and remembered. To this end, the project will be hosting a series of performances to bring Magna Żmien back to the community. Organised for the first time today in Mellieħa, the evening will include a performance on the Kapsula Merill, a time-machine with a traveller on the search for memories, as well as interactive sound and visual projections.

“We are building an artificial world that is out of touch with our heritage,” Alamango says. “The artistic application of these materials aim to create the foundation on which our future worlds could be built. In this generic global culture there needs to be an effort for our new world to be rooted in the land that we thread.”

“Your story contributes to the history of our cultural heritage – the story of your community. This archive tells the tale of a unifying story, our shared history.”

Magna Żmien and the Magnificent Memories Machine will be landing in Misraħ iż-Żjara tal-Papa, Mellieħa, today at 8pm. For more information or to submit your own collection, visit www.magnażmien.com or call on 7706 0232.