Archives and The Archive
General
Course Long Title
Archives and The Archive
Subject Code
FPFV
Course Number
680
Department(s)
Academic Level
GR - Graduate
Description
Archives and the Archive
The word "archive/s" holds a strange power these days. It is at once the title of organizations that preserve, arrange and provide access to historical materials, those collections of materials themselves, a synonym for memory, and a high-falutin word to legitimize your group of stuff (as if it needed anyone's legitimization!). - Dorothy Berry
In this project-based class we will engage with a range of definitions for the archive and for archives. Institutional archives are repositories of historical materials, organized in ways that in themselves produce meaning. They aim to preserve documents and objects, films and photographs with deliberation. They are also sites of power which can both amplify and suppress versions of the past. Personal archives can be albums of snapshots, folders of certificates, diplomas, deeds and postcards, film reels, broken pots and bits of embroidery. The body has been called an archive as it bears the marks, sensations and memory of its (one's) history. "The archive" is also used as a metaphor for memory. What does alternately contracting and expanding the definition of an archive/the archive tell us about history, memory and historiography? We will encounter work by artists who engage with archives, both in practice and in concept. We will also consider some fundamental issues surrounding archives: What constitutes an archive? Why do we create archives? What role do archives play in the writing of history? What are the power relationships visible (and invisible) in archives? What is of archival value? How do archivists decide what should be included and what excluded? How does an archival context create meaning? How do developments in technology affect archival practices? How do they redefine what an archive is? Are archives places of memory or forgetting? Related to these questions are those regarding image appropriation. How have artists historically worked with recycled images, both archival and "found"? What issues arise with appropriation? What happens to the meaning of an image when it is taken out one context and placed in another? Is it meaningful to distinguish between archival and found imagery? Why or why not?
Activities will include readings, screenings and discussions. Students will be asked to visit a brick and mortar archive and to make a final project in response to the topics covered in class.
The word "archive/s" holds a strange power these days. It is at once the title of organizations that preserve, arrange and provide access to historical materials, those collections of materials themselves, a synonym for memory, and a high-falutin word to legitimize your group of stuff (as if it needed anyone's legitimization!). - Dorothy Berry
In this project-based class we will engage with a range of definitions for the archive and for archives. Institutional archives are repositories of historical materials, organized in ways that in themselves produce meaning. They aim to preserve documents and objects, films and photographs with deliberation. They are also sites of power which can both amplify and suppress versions of the past. Personal archives can be albums of snapshots, folders of certificates, diplomas, deeds and postcards, film reels, broken pots and bits of embroidery. The body has been called an archive as it bears the marks, sensations and memory of its (one's) history. "The archive" is also used as a metaphor for memory. What does alternately contracting and expanding the definition of an archive/the archive tell us about history, memory and historiography? We will encounter work by artists who engage with archives, both in practice and in concept. We will also consider some fundamental issues surrounding archives: What constitutes an archive? Why do we create archives? What role do archives play in the writing of history? What are the power relationships visible (and invisible) in archives? What is of archival value? How do archivists decide what should be included and what excluded? How does an archival context create meaning? How do developments in technology affect archival practices? How do they redefine what an archive is? Are archives places of memory or forgetting? Related to these questions are those regarding image appropriation. How have artists historically worked with recycled images, both archival and "found"? What issues arise with appropriation? What happens to the meaning of an image when it is taken out one context and placed in another? Is it meaningful to distinguish between archival and found imagery? Why or why not?
Activities will include readings, screenings and discussions. Students will be asked to visit a brick and mortar archive and to make a final project in response to the topics covered in class.