The “Archival Turn” in Contemporary Creation. Archive-forms and Historical Renarrations
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.11606/issn.2596-2477.i55p106-120Keywords:
Archives, Contemporary art, Narration, Poscolonial, Conceptual artAbstract
The archival turn in contemporary art is part of the lineage of post-conceptual art. By introducing historical documents, administrative information, or texts by others, the artworks place the viewer in the position of an investigator tasked with reconstructing a fragmented narrative. Through the examples of three artists — Thu Van Tran, Elisabetta Benassi, and Sammy Baloji — the archives bring to light minority narratives in response to the dominance of European history and its colonial extensions. The experience and subjectivity conveyed by the artists shift the archives into a space of situated knowledge, which results in disidentifying the archive from its original function and repositioning it within a new narrative.
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Copyright (c) 2025 Magali Nachtergael; Katerina Blasques Kaspar, Lucas de Paiva Sanches
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