Monday, September 7, 2015

Post 104: Here We Go...

Uriel Orlow: Latent Archives, Roving Lens//2006

          "Responding to and stimulated by this, there has been a marked increase in contemporary arts practice concerned with memory. Two sub-trends immediately come to mind: on one hand, works which in one way or another simulate memory process and create fictional archives by way of collecting and classifying things or through the use of a narrative. On the other hand, a group of works can be identified which reject the imaginary or symbolic archive in favour of the real archive, making use of documentary sources or found footage., be it to address historical themes or to subvert given interpretations of events. The role of the artist in the former group of works could be described as that of an archive maker whereas the artists in the latter group work as archive users.
          What I am interested in here is a third, less obvious practice; namely that of artists working as archive thinkers. The works that fall into this category are not principally engaged in the construction of new archives or in the conducting of research into existing ones. And while they might do both of these things, they are above all engaged in deconstruction the notion of the archive itself. They reflect on the archive as something which is never fixed in meaning or material, but is nevertheless here, largely invisible yet at the same time monumental, constantly about to appear and disappear; latent."

(emphasis by me)




2 comments:

  1. Does the deconstruction of an image and the archive always degenerate it? Or can it be re-written more clearly?

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    Replies
    1. It can only be re-written based on the information from that particular time when it is being re-written. It isn't being re-written with reference to the original, because the original is erased before the new one is created.

      Sometimes the new archive is more detailed and better understood because you have gained knowledge that allows you to understand the memory more clearly, sometimes things fade as their importance lessens, some things are strengthened because they become more important.

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