[ISEA2000] Curator Statement: VARIOUS ARTISTS – AAA: Archiving As Art

Curator Statement

Installations at the UNIVERSITE PARIS 1 (SALLE MICHEL JOURNIAC) and SHOWROOM DINE CHELABI

How do we define what is worth archiving? What is implied in the process of constituting, organizing and updating an archive? What happens to the material once it is archived? How can it be accessed ? By whom? Can users transform the archives? More than a simple tool used to elaborate knowledge, the archive is envisaged as a significant component of our perceptual world, and indeed of our perception. Just as forgetting is necessary for our memory to function properly, so too a full wastebasket («the circular file») is essential to the archivist. In the choice which transforms objects into documents, what criteria of pertinence can we imagine? for what use? in what context? While inspired by scientific or documentary methods, each artist proposes a specific approach not only in the treatment of his/her object but also in its constitution.

Installations by:

  • Eduardo Kac,
  • Lev Manovich,
  • RDV murmures de quartier (Patricia d’Isola & Christophe Le Francois),
  • Marie-Helene Boisdur de Toffol,
  • Luc-Francois Granier,
  • Olga Kisseleva,
  • Yann Toma,
  • Fabian Wagmister

Websites and screen-based works by:

  • Sharon Daniel,
  • Reynald Drouhin,
  • Maria Klonaris & Katerina Thomadaki,
  • Judy Malloy,
  • Fabrice Oehl,
  • Karen O’Rourke,
  • Gilbertto Prado,
  • Paula Levine,
  • Xavier Lambert,
  • Isadora Bourdeaux-Maurin
  • Licence Art Libre (Copyleft Attitude)

Performance by:

  • Daphne Le Sergent