Opening the archive: hidden narratives of artefacts reinterpreted creatively

How can we approach archives in a creative way? How can the legacy of certain artefacts be challenged? What archival traces from past to present need to be re-examined? What stories do archives contain and whose are absent from them? What narratives need to be questioned and retold to help us better understand the complex problems we are facing today? Within the framework of the Bibliothek der Kunstler*innen, Weimar (BdKW) an artistic project that celebrates the work of FLINTA* artists linked to Weimar, we would like to artistically open up and scrutinise the complex themes within archiving, from its possibilities to its limitations, and respond actively and creatively in order to
create new artistic perspectives. 

This will first be achieved through a series of online seminars that introduce the concepts of “archive,” and “collection” and the artistic practices that relate to them. We will also discuss the themes surrounding archive collections, the gaps and their limitations and examine existing creative projects that work with these themes.

Students will then explore existing online collections from the archives, libraries and museums in Weimar or of a particular area of interest. Later in the second week of the course, they will have the chance to visit one of the city’s archives and see its collection firsthand. Based on this primary research, students will be asked to work together to select a document, gap, section or part that they would like to “open out” and respond or question to in a creative way and show to an audience. The second week will also be more practically focussed with hands-on workshops that demonstrate the “opening out” of archival material. Starting with the strategies demonstrated by the BdKW, students will use a combination of these to create a final artwork that can be exhibited and shown within the public sphere.

NOTE:
This course includes an attendance phase in Weimar from March 14 to March 23, 2024.