The past two weeks I had the pleasure of returning to Europe to meet with my colleagues and fellow collaborators of the Archivorum Ark project. The first week I found myself in Paris, to see the opening reception of The Earth has Shifted at the L’Atlas exhibition space. In this group show, Archivorum’s own Nil Yalter had her 1979 video work, Shaman, on display. The show asked nine artists to “to think about an Earth off-kilter, off-axis, where experiences or ruptures have left a trace or shift in our environment, difficult to convey or describe, yet present in our psyches.” It was my first time seeing her work in person, and having come from an eight hour flight from the states, the hypnotic movement of the video was mesmerizing and perfectly fit into the theme of being “off-kilter.” Seeing her work in context proved exactly why she was the type of artist that should be archived, and gave me a sense of excitement for the eventual results of the archive.
Coincidentally, this was also my first time meeting my fellow archivist for the project, Anaïs Auger-Mathurin, who is working with Nil on her personal archive. During my time in Paris, and later Geneva for the Artgenève art fair, Anaïs and I were able to discuss in person our process and struggles of building the archive. For example, we had a discussion about scanning slides and photographs, and we were able to exchange both different techniques and suggestions for equipment for the work. Archiving can be a very isolating job, but the opportunity to work with both an artist and fellow archivist, expands the archive into a more community focused project, proving that the process is collaborative in nature.
Next week, I’ll dive further into meeting the fellow artists in Geneva, as well as my reunion with Belen and discussing our process on the archive.
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