Alternative Histories, Alternative Archives: A one-day symposium on the state of the archive
@ Co-Prosperity Sphere
3219 S Morgan St, Chicago, IL 60608
Opening Thursday, October 5th, from 9am - 5PM
“This material will still be here when you leave. Someone else will study it. These images will encounter other times, other faces.” — Akram Zaatari, artist, speaking about the Arab Image Foundation photography archive
The concept of “the Archive” has gained potency over recent years, particularly in the realms of art and culture. Depository of information, home for memory and data, source of inspiration and inquiry for artists and researchers — archives function in a multitude of ways across disciplines.
For more than forty years, Video Data Bank (VDB) has served as a valuable resource for alternative video art histories, and has itself evolved into an “accidental” archive. VDB is a pioneer in fostering awareness and scholarship of media art — from a renowned anthology of early video art, to feminist and queer-focused curatorial projects, and media activist collections — long advocating for this most democratic and widely distributed of art forms.
This October, VDB will host Alternative Histories, Alternative Archives, a one-day symposium centered on alternative archival content, practices, and strategies, from archivists, academics, and artists. Among the questions posed:
-What makes an archive?
-Who is the archive for?
-Is the archive neutral?
-Who controls the archive?
-Can the archive be a progressive tool?
-How can the archive survive in the current political and financial climate?
We are happy to welcome Josh MacPhee of Interference Archive as our keynote speaker, as well as representatives from organizations including: Black Film Center/Archive, Chicago Film Archives, Experimental Sound Studio, Media Burn, Public Collectors, Read/Write Library, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Sixty Inches From Center, South Side Home Movie Project, and artist Joshua J. Kent.
Co-Prosperity Sphere
3219 South Morgan Street
Chicago, IL 60608
Thursday, October 5th 9.00am-5.00pm
This event has been made possible thanks to the Lyn Blumenthal Memorial Fund
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Tags: Alternative Archives: A one-day symposium on the state of the archive, Black Film Center/Archive, Bridgeport, Chicago Alternative Histories, Chicago Film Archives, Co-Prosperity Sphere, Experimental Sound Studio, Josh MacPhee, Joshua J. Kent., Media Burn, Public Collectors, Read/Write Library, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Sixty Inches From Center, South Side Home Movie Project, video data bank
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