Is This An Archive? On the Limits and Possibilities of the Archive
September 19 | 4 pm-6 pm
This interactive workshop aims to discuss what constitutes an archive and how archival structures influence perceptions of cultural memory and artistic practice. Based on the notion that archives are never neutral, the workshop considers the possible uses of archives and the tensions between preservation and accessibility.
Through collective discussions, based on critical theories and diverse images, participants will be able to reflect on how archival legitimacy is granted, denied, or contested. The goal is to highlight the constructed nature of archives, as well as their relationship to knowledge production. Furthermore, the workshop seeks to highlight the ways in which contemporary artists deconstruct fixed notions about the archive, embracing its potential as a space of multiplicity and reimagination.
Some of the questions that will guide the workshop discussions will be:
What visual, material, and conceptual criteria define an archive? What is the role of archival and artistic work in these definitions?
In what ways do power structures shape our understanding of what is preserved and what is omitted?
Can an archive exist outside institutional structures and, if so, under what conditions?
The workshop will be taught by Sarah Haylett (TATE and UCL) and Theresa Kneppers (Borough Road Gallery, LSBU).
Sarah Haylett is an archivist and researcher. Between 2018 and 2021, she worked on the project Reshaping the Collectable: When Artworks Live in the Museum, at Tate (UK). In this role, Sarah explored artworks that challenged the boundaries between Tate's archives, records, and art collections. She also developed and published the first methodology for the reconstruction and reconstruction of lost and missing institutional records. As an archivist, Sarah also worked with several public and private contemporary art collections, including Zaha Hadid, the estate of Donald Rodney, and Malcolm Le Grice. Sarah is currently in the final year of her PhD, where she is investigating the creation and use of archives in socially engaged art practice. Her research focuses on how centring marginalised narratives, collective memory, and knowledge transfer through participatory documentation practices could potentially give participants agency in the afterlives of these practices.
Theresa Kneppers Theresa is a curator and researcher specialising in digital curation, user engagement, and participatory practices in museum collections. Her work explores how digital technologies can transform traditional museum models, shifting from prescriptive interpretation to collaborative meaning-making. Theresa has curated exhibitions that blend historical narratives with contemporary artistic responses, including GIFs of Paintings and Breathing in the Borough Road Archive. As curator of The David Bomberg Legacy – The Sarah Rose Collection since 2017, he has developed digital initiatives that integrate public participation with experimental curatorial methodologies. Furthermore, his doctoral research, entitled "User Interaction in the Online Curation of Digital Collections," proposes an innovative model of networked co-curation, in which interpretation is decentralised and promotes user engagement with art and heritage.
