Paper short abstract:

In this paper I discuss perspectives on appropriation of archival material derived from practice led research integrating theory and artistic production.

Paper long abstract:

In this paper I discuss perspectives on appropriation of archival material derived from practice led research integrating theory and artistic production. An important claim will be how archival interventions in order to produce new experiences and meanings must seek to 'incorporate, absorb, critique and refashion' (Erl & Rigney 2009: 5).

Walter Benjamins idea of a 'Jezt-zeit' allow a view of the present as more than a mere passage between past and future. Benjamins's criticism of any causal-logical approach to history favors a view of the process of constructing the/a past as an act of appropriation (Benjamin 1998:168)

Working with 'haptic interventions' entail a method where the 'archivist/researcher' work as a 'participant observer'. It means focusing on the material presence of an object, and on the interaction itself as the site for the production of knowledge (Marks, 2000; Høgel, 2017).

The presentation will include excerpts from and discussions of case studies such as installations (e.g Passage, 2014, CCC/MOMU) and films ( e.g Voicing Silent Things (and people), 2018, CCC/MOMU) as well as a collaborative archival film project (in development) with Alyssa Grossman (postdoctoral research fellow, Critical Heritage Studies, University of Gothenburg).