Archives are spaces of aftermath. Despite the contingencies of history, the ideal function of an archive is as a container, a space of continuance – a helpful diffuser of the trauma of life and loss.
That’s the idea anyway. But archives themselves are also part of life, subject to the vicissitudes of power and ideology. Individual collections also speak a politics of memory.
The Body in the Archive will consider how we account for the impact of what we encounter in the archive; what’s missing from the archive; and how we can respond in art.
This talk is part of our Memorial Gestures Programme, a platform supporting artistic research into the Holocaust Centre North Archive. Our artist talks feature artists engaging with archives, memory studies, and the representation of (marginalised) histories. Their aim is to contextualise Holocaust memory, materials, and creative responses within contemporary critical and sociopolitical frameworks.
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