Lost in the Archive

‘Archive’, as a cultural category, has become an important arena for theoretical debate and discussion. The use of the archive as a metaphor for the idea of historical veracity and origination and, conversely, as a metaphor for the potential liberation of historical analysis from the confines of narrative totality has filtered through the thinking of cultural analysis. But, what is it to wander in the archive, to inhabit the partial traces of practices that we can never fully access? From artistic practices, that disrupt the material and forms of the archive, to utopian acts that seek to retain alternatives by protecting political archives from erasure, this module will explore how getting lost in the archive may produce surprising moments of discovery. This module will be taught using case studies, site visits and discussion.