The “archives were born as sites of whose contents were thought to have transcended temporal bounds
. [...] There was little space for documenting the evanescent or of
human existence,
.”
not to mention the actions of contemporaries or peripheries,
in the archivum[1]
[1] Jeffrey Schnapp.
Buried (and) Alive.
However, in the last decades the archives have “undergone towards higher accessibility and transparency, facilitated mainly through the
advances of the digital technologiesBuried (and) Alive.
. These changes have resulted in new challenges which offer
unforeseen possibilities for
.”
both in terms of access and knowledge production by new, often
marginalised, voices
[2]
[2] L’internationale Online.
Decolonising Archives.
This highlights the importance of archivists' work that “explore the
potential of to
democratize cultural memoryDecolonising Archives.
. With digital tools and networks, they that are accessible by all Internet users
.”
, and can choose to preserve either vast quantities of information
(they do not have to choose to save some types of content and
discard other types because of physical space restrictions) or
highly specific materials (such as the documents of subcultures or
minority groups) that have been consistently excluded or ignored
by traditional memory institutions
[3]
[3] Abigail De Kosnik.
Rogue Archives.
These initiatives seek “to position archives as places of
to democratize
cultural memoryRogue Archives.
, as places where we might seek to perform struggle, expose
presentism, make theories actionable, refuse dominant narratives of
inevitability, and imagine and stage a broad spectrum of that are
accessible by all Internet users
. And today archives are than reflectors of
extrinsic activity. In a time when prolepsis and analepsis cycle rapidly, when
boundaries between past/present/future manifest as blurred and
even invisible, repositories of records are at once anchorages and
launchpads and spaces for retrospect and rehearsal. They are the
waysides where media temporarily reposes before it is reborn
: they have also become laboratories where key social and cultural
discourses are proposed, argued, and tested
.”
[4]
[4] Rick Prelinger.
Archives of Inconvenience.
In conclusion, the “above narrative might
to
democratize cultural memoryArchives of Inconvenience.
if the march towards democratisation, proliferation, and an expanded
concept of the cultural record didn’t have nested within it a series
of challenges that are also opportunities for renewal
. The latter encompass a
of uniform processing and conservation practices; new models of search,
discovery, and retrieval, as well as information use and sharing;
outreach to audiences that are infrequently served by traditional
brick-and-mortar archives; an augmented approach to description and
cataloguing that treats every cultural object not as a singular
entity but as a web of relations; and even a rethinking of
the very notion of “archive” along more flexible and fluid lines.”
[5]
[5] Jeffrey Schnapp.
Buried (and) Alive.
Buried (and) Alive.
● (UN)ARCHIVING: OPENNESS, DIVERSITY, SHARING ● (UN)ARCHIVING: OPENNESS, DIVERSITY, SHARING ● (UN)ARCHIVING: OPENNESS, DIVERSITY, SHARING ● (UN)ARCHIVING: OPENNESS, DIVERSITY, SHARING ●
ABOUT
The archive plays a key role in the construction of collective memory by preserving certain views of history and amplifying certain cultural discourses. As such, it is a device of power and of inevitable exclusion. According to Paul Soulellis, this implies that we “carefully examine our archives and search for lost voices, stories of failure, non-linear trajectories, and other non-conventional perspectives.”
The digitalization of the archive has gradually contributed to its democratization as enhanced by online accessibility and the possibility of shared construction. Mechanisms for accessing, managing, and sharing content, as well as distributed storage, contribute to constructing the archive as the result of a collective and inclusive process. The archive repositions itself, moving away from a centralized structure towards an open, decentralized, and participative structure, permeable to diversity and representativeness.
Building on this idea, (Un)archiving explores how the digital archive can become a means of resistance that, in the words of Abigail De Kosnik, acts as a "supportive infrastructure for groups whose histories and cultures are constantly in danger of being overwritten, forgotten, deleted, or relegated to dark corners by the guardians of 'official' history and culture."
The project is presented in two complementary formats: this webpage, which is the core project output, and a printed volume. The webpage addresses this topic through the collection and networked visualization of concepts and characteristics that enable a digital, collaborative, and inclusive archive. With this form of content visualization and exploration, it aims to create a space for reflection on the archive, its limitations and potential, highlighting the role it can play as a device of resistance.
Complementing the website, the printed booklet presents a lexicon that brings together quotations and excerpts from the original sources used on the website, contextualizing the concepts within their original debates. You can download the booklet here.
The digitalization of the archive has gradually contributed to its democratization as enhanced by online accessibility and the possibility of shared construction. Mechanisms for accessing, managing, and sharing content, as well as distributed storage, contribute to constructing the archive as the result of a collective and inclusive process. The archive repositions itself, moving away from a centralized structure towards an open, decentralized, and participative structure, permeable to diversity and representativeness.
Building on this idea, (Un)archiving explores how the digital archive can become a means of resistance that, in the words of Abigail De Kosnik, acts as a "supportive infrastructure for groups whose histories and cultures are constantly in danger of being overwritten, forgotten, deleted, or relegated to dark corners by the guardians of 'official' history and culture."
The project is presented in two complementary formats: this webpage, which is the core project output, and a printed volume. The webpage addresses this topic through the collection and networked visualization of concepts and characteristics that enable a digital, collaborative, and inclusive archive. With this form of content visualization and exploration, it aims to create a space for reflection on the archive, its limitations and potential, highlighting the role it can play as a device of resistance.
Complementing the website, the printed booklet presents a lexicon that brings together quotations and excerpts from the original sources used on the website, contextualizing the concepts within their original debates. You can download the booklet here.
Project
Mayumi Amaral
Project Advisors
Prof. Luisa Ribas
Prof. Pedro Ângelo
Disciplines
Project II
Laboratory II
Master's in
Communication Design
Faculty of Fine Arts,
University of Lisbon
2022
Special thanks
Alexandra Guimarães
Ana Durão
Beatriz Querido
João dos Santos
Mônica Faustino
Mayumi Amaral
Project Advisors
Prof. Luisa Ribas
Prof. Pedro Ângelo
Disciplines
Project II
Laboratory II
Master's in
Communication Design
Faculty of Fine Arts,
University of Lisbon
2022
Special thanks
Alexandra Guimarães
Ana Durão
Beatriz Querido
João dos Santos
Mônica Faustino