L’INTERNATIONALE – Stories and Threads: Perspectives on Art Archives
Contemporary art archives are complex spaces criss-crossed and composed by a myriad of agents, from the archivist and the librarian to the researcher, from the curator to the artist, from the activists to the student, etc. and it is through their collaboration and cooperation that the archive becomes a meaningful tool to read the past and activate it in the present.
The Archives working group of L’internationale is dedicated to the exchange, reflection, and discussion of their practices and challenges, as archivists, librarians and curators for contemporary art institutions. This publication presents a series of reflections on experiences from inside the archives related to L’Internationale. There is no universal view or a general analysis here, but a series of perspectives that are rooted in concrete practices developed in recent years.
The publication examines some of the challenges facing archives today, while also highlighting how art archives are sites of contested agency. Instead of giving a normative and unequivocal view on what archives are and how they must work, Stories and Threads formulates questions on ownership, authority, recognition, access, distribution, and related topics that contribute to the collective efforts of the contributors to question and amplify the relevance of archives today, not least with view to their important role in producing our future.
Contributors: Agency, Kate Antosik-Parsons, Aimar Arriola, Katty Axelsson, Lotte Bode, Sara Buraya Boned, Damián Cabrera, Katia Ev, Enric Farrés Duran, Beatriz Fernández Rodríguez, Jennifer Fitzgibbon, Ida Hiršenfelder, Henrik Hamboldt, Jana Intihar Ferjan, Cathryn Klasto, Gloria López Cleries, Javiera Manzi A., Gema Marín Méndez, Marcell Mars, Tomislav Medak, Pedro Merchán Mateos, Teja Merhar, Sarp R. Özer, İz Öztat, Daniel Pecharromán Calvo, Sabina Povšič, Red Conceptualismos del Sur, Elisabet Rodríguez, Sezin Romi, Carolina Santamarina, Steven ten Thije, Marta Vega, Rok Vevar, Rita Zamora Amengual.