Exclusion, inclusion and the writing of historical narratives…
The work within this group is very immediate, very present and sudden. The space between this immediacy and the process of documentation that runs along side it is unclear, at times wide, at other times indiscernible. As is the case when we experience the archive and interact with it. The signatures of Karl Marx and Lenin, visitors to the archive at the British museum, are immediate to us in many ways but there they sit in a condition of stasis; a condition, which has become a symbol of ‘archive’. However this gap can be challenged and we come to often talk about the importance of performing the archive as we refuse to let this stasis set in.
The rapidly changing and adaptable medium of the Internet provides a platform for an archive, which is far more conducive to its potential to stay active and alive. In addition to this, however, it has also in some ways expanded restrictive notions of what can and cannot be included in the archive. Particularly evident during visits to various archives has been the importance of space and the great limitation it places on the potential of an archive. While the Tate and the British Museum fill vast backrooms with endless material, the archives at John Latham’s house are squeezed against the wall of a relatively small office. To what extent do these practical circumstances affect the potential of an archive? There is of course beauty in the books that we encountered at the British Museum and this is missing from the digitised archive but the boundaries (although still there at times) are usually more distant. There is much to be said about these boundaries and they have certainly not been overlooked. The accessibility of data, as well as numerous issues of confidentiality are intertwined with many experiences of the archive.
Furthermore, it is evident that older, well-established archives are experiencing a slightly thorny transformation from traditional to modern archive. Of the archives we have looked at there is always an attempt to move towards digitisation but there is also, for most, a reluctance to move rapidly and wholly. The task of scanning every page of signatures in the British Museum archive is not yet a valued or immediately necessary task. The techniques of preservation have so far been sufficient to keep these documents in fine shape and with increasing digitisation elsewhere they suffer less competition for space upon the shelves they sit. But this has left a lump of inconsistency in the form of these archives, parts of which remain left with relatively little interaction.
The rapidly changing and adaptable medium of the Internet provides a platform for an archive, which is far more conducive to its potential to stay active and alive. In addition to this, however, it has also in some ways expanded restrictive notions of what can and cannot be included in the archive. Particularly evident during visits to various archives has been the importance of space and the great limitation it places on the potential of an archive. While the Tate and the British Museum fill vast backrooms with endless material, the archives at John Latham’s house are squeezed against the wall of a relatively small office. To what extent do these practical circumstances affect the potential of an archive? There is of course beauty in the books that we encountered at the British Museum and this is missing from the digitised archive but the boundaries (although still there at times) are usually more distant. There is much to be said about these boundaries and they have certainly not been overlooked. The accessibility of data, as well as numerous issues of confidentiality are intertwined with many experiences of the archive.
Furthermore, it is evident that older, well-established archives are experiencing a slightly thorny transformation from traditional to modern archive. Of the archives we have looked at there is always an attempt to move towards digitisation but there is also, for most, a reluctance to move rapidly and wholly. The task of scanning every page of signatures in the British Museum archive is not yet a valued or immediately necessary task. The techniques of preservation have so far been sufficient to keep these documents in fine shape and with increasing digitisation elsewhere they suffer less competition for space upon the shelves they sit. But this has left a lump of inconsistency in the form of these archives, parts of which remain left with relatively little interaction.
Derrida, Archive Fever, p.16-17
A fundamental element of the archive is its capacity to articulate a historical narrative. This extract from Derrida emphasises how the formulation of an archive can inform a conception of both the past and future. Embedded within this are a number of complexities concerning value, truth, knowledge, power, fiction and so on.
A fundamental element of the archive is its capacity to articulate a historical narrative. This extract from Derrida emphasises how the formulation of an archive can inform a conception of both the past and future. Embedded within this are a number of complexities concerning value, truth, knowledge, power, fiction and so on.
Judit Bodor, Archives in Motion
Selection and Exclusion
In considering the establishment of historical narratives we must take into account the process of exclusion that is unavoidable in the making of any archive. We have spoken at length about the affect that the personality of the archivist may have on the shape and content of the archive.
Caroline Steedman, Dust, 2001
There are endless examples of fictitious historical narratives, created upon the foundations of incomplete archival material. A now well-known example is the exclusion of artistic endeavours by women in the history of art.
There are endless examples of fictitious historical narratives, created upon the foundations of incomplete archival material. A now well-known example is the exclusion of artistic endeavours by women in the history of art.
Linda Nochlin, Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?, 1971
Derrida in Archive Fever, which was a starting point for this research, draws our attention to the power held by the people who create the archive as they are "accorded hermeneutic right and competence". Hence forth their are important questions to be asked about the limitations of the archive. The archive can be built in a number of ways - for example, the archivist may seek to establish a historical narrative. This is particularly noticeable when archives are put on display. Often there is a process of selection through which discontinuities are excluded so as to give the impression of a linear history. The basis of which may be established along such lines as those discussed by Hayden White in his book Metahistory (1973), in which he outlines four archetypal genres; romance, comedy, tragedy and satire. It is these ‘metahistories’ which are imposed on the past to give it “continuity, coherence and meaning”. For Foucault these narratives are often expressions of ethical and political commitments at the time of their establishment. As through ‘critical philosophy’, critical archiving could be a way through which these traditional approaches to archiving are challenged and restructured.
Foucault’s ‘archaeological’ approach to understanding history is based upon a desire to “uproot traditional foundations and relentlessly disrupt its pretended continuities”. There is also an emphaisis on the importance of hearing the “other”. For Foucault, there are particular characters in society that are silenced and excluded because of the establishment of hierarchies of knowledge. For example to voice of science has been seen to dominate the space of accepted knowledge. Those that science acknowledges as, for example ‘mad’, ‘criminal’, and so on are thus withdrawn from society and confined to prisons and hospitals. By questioning or fully understanding these knowledges as the foundations of discourse, we can identify the ruptures and non-linear fragments that are often smoothed out by traditional histories. One way to ensure that this is done is by looking at the knowledge eliminated from history with the same respect as that of traditionally valued histories. A number of artists have worked with the concept of archiving with an acknowledgment of the importance of this.
Glen Gould’s The Solitude Trilogy, a project described by Gould as a radio documentary, explores the idea of solitude in relation to Northern Canada. The documentaries consist of a number of voices reflecting a deliberate withdrawal from the world that may other wise remain unheard. Susan Hiller pursued a similar act of archiving in her work ‘The Last Silent Movie’ which documents recordings of languages either lost or verging on extinction.
The work of the Atlas group approaches the archive in a different way. The effect of which marks a more obvious critique on major archives. The Atlas group is a project intended to archive a contemporary history of Lebanon. Through doing so the group brings to light a number of questions concerning fiction and the archive: “the project runs a convoluted line between fact and fiction, replacing unitary power with fragmented assemblage” (Mark Beasley, Frieze, March 2006). The work pulls us towards the contradictions within historical records and subverts ‘meta narratives’ created by traditional historicism. They do so in part through the use of fictional characters of many forms. These characters are used to highlight conflicts within historical narratives. The Fadl Fakhouri File documents 226 notebooks of a fictional historian, said to hold written evidence taken from a fictive car bombing investigation…
The “archive” and the “truth”:
Foucault is particularly important in regards to the archive given his extensive analysis of power/knowledge. One of the initial points of interest in discussing the archive was its capacity to act as a knowledge base. Hence the benefits seen in establishing a platform through which a large number of group members could contribute to its content. For Foucault, power is inextricably linked to knowledge. As already discussed, there is a certain hierarchy of knowledge that has been established across all corners of society. Foucault demonstrates this through more directly obvious examples, such as the relationship between the doctor and the patient; the doctor gives judgement based on their knowledge of the ‘truth’ upon the health of the patient and simultaneously controls their behaviour through an insistence upon a course of treatment. “For in knowing we control and in controlling we know.” (Rachana Chakraborty, Women’s Education and Empowerment in Colonial Bengal, p.97)
Derrida in Archive Fever, which was a starting point for this research, draws our attention to the power held by the people who create the archive as they are "accorded hermeneutic right and competence". Hence forth their are important questions to be asked about the limitations of the archive. The archive can be built in a number of ways - for example, the archivist may seek to establish a historical narrative. This is particularly noticeable when archives are put on display. Often there is a process of selection through which discontinuities are excluded so as to give the impression of a linear history. The basis of which may be established along such lines as those discussed by Hayden White in his book Metahistory (1973), in which he outlines four archetypal genres; romance, comedy, tragedy and satire. It is these ‘metahistories’ which are imposed on the past to give it “continuity, coherence and meaning”. For Foucault these narratives are often expressions of ethical and political commitments at the time of their establishment. As through ‘critical philosophy’, critical archiving could be a way through which these traditional approaches to archiving are challenged and restructured.
Foucault’s ‘archaeological’ approach to understanding history is based upon a desire to “uproot traditional foundations and relentlessly disrupt its pretended continuities”. There is also an emphaisis on the importance of hearing the “other”. For Foucault, there are particular characters in society that are silenced and excluded because of the establishment of hierarchies of knowledge. For example to voice of science has been seen to dominate the space of accepted knowledge. Those that science acknowledges as, for example ‘mad’, ‘criminal’, and so on are thus withdrawn from society and confined to prisons and hospitals. By questioning or fully understanding these knowledges as the foundations of discourse, we can identify the ruptures and non-linear fragments that are often smoothed out by traditional histories. One way to ensure that this is done is by looking at the knowledge eliminated from history with the same respect as that of traditionally valued histories. A number of artists have worked with the concept of archiving with an acknowledgment of the importance of this.
Glen Gould’s The Solitude Trilogy, a project described by Gould as a radio documentary, explores the idea of solitude in relation to Northern Canada. The documentaries consist of a number of voices reflecting a deliberate withdrawal from the world that may other wise remain unheard. Susan Hiller pursued a similar act of archiving in her work ‘The Last Silent Movie’ which documents recordings of languages either lost or verging on extinction.
The work of the Atlas group approaches the archive in a different way. The effect of which marks a more obvious critique on major archives. The Atlas group is a project intended to archive a contemporary history of Lebanon. Through doing so the group brings to light a number of questions concerning fiction and the archive: “the project runs a convoluted line between fact and fiction, replacing unitary power with fragmented assemblage” (Mark Beasley, Frieze, March 2006). The work pulls us towards the contradictions within historical records and subverts ‘meta narratives’ created by traditional historicism. They do so in part through the use of fictional characters of many forms. These characters are used to highlight conflicts within historical narratives. The Fadl Fakhouri File documents 226 notebooks of a fictional historian, said to hold written evidence taken from a fictive car bombing investigation…
The “archive” and the “truth”:
Foucault is particularly important in regards to the archive given his extensive analysis of power/knowledge. One of the initial points of interest in discussing the archive was its capacity to act as a knowledge base. Hence the benefits seen in establishing a platform through which a large number of group members could contribute to its content. For Foucault, power is inextricably linked to knowledge. As already discussed, there is a certain hierarchy of knowledge that has been established across all corners of society. Foucault demonstrates this through more directly obvious examples, such as the relationship between the doctor and the patient; the doctor gives judgement based on their knowledge of the ‘truth’ upon the health of the patient and simultaneously controls their behaviour through an insistence upon a course of treatment. “For in knowing we control and in controlling we know.” (Rachana Chakraborty, Women’s Education and Empowerment in Colonial Bengal, p.97)
Susan Van Zyl, ‘Psychoanalysis and the Archive’ in Refiguring the Archive, p.47