COLLECT / RECOLLECT: THE DIGITAL ARCHIVE AS A CABINET OF CURIOSITIES

Please, RSVP if you would like to attend: HERE

The programme will begin with a mapping activity, which will shine a light on enchanting collections from a wide range of public domain collections. The workshop will cover how to use an archive intuitively. The event is presented as a curated journey through memory, both factual and imaginative, investigative and playful. Participants will also be introduced to subsequent activities, including alternative ways of documenting immediate lived experiences through experimental writing and drawing. If possible, please bring your own laptop.

COLLECT / RECOLLECT PROGRAMME
This programme is about action and memory. It seeks to colour our understanding of what an archive is and how contemporary artists may use it to expand and enrich their arts practice. The archive is more than a collection for browsing, it is also a space in which to forge connections and articulate selfhood. To delve into an archive or look through archival material is to engage in an affective and critical practice.

Two workshops and a participatory installation will explore what it means to imagine, perceive, remember, and record. The series is free for all participating artists, and open to all makers who are inquisitive and reflexive.  

Michelle Cook is a London-based writer and curator. Her practice is research-led, interdisciplinary and reflexive. She is concerned with the visibility of the archive, and models of community engagement that are participatory and dialogical. Her work explores how we perceive and respond to collections, and communication that departs from rigid uses of language.