Secretariat for Ghosts, Archival Politics, and Gaps; Nina Höchtl and Julia Wieger (Web); In the frame of the exhibition „Uncanny Materials | Founding Moments of Art Education. A curatorial exhibition, research and education project“ (Web)

Time: Tue, April 5, 2016, 1:30 to 5:30 p.m.
Venue: Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, Schillerplatz 3, 1010 Vienna
Registration by April 1, 2016

By addressing the archive as a medium we attempt to work through its im/materiality. We invite participants to question the currency of NS, colonialism and (de)coloniality in relation to specific archival materials from two rather different archives: the Archive of the Austrian Association of Women Artists VBKÖ and the University Archives of the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, both haunted by NS and coloniality. These archives hold documents evincing the institutions‘ national socialist involvements as well as pointing towards traces of coloniality. At the same time, they bear omissions that make it necessary to read into their gaps. The workshop aims to address questions such as: How could we engage with the archival materials in order to examine the constellations between NS, colonialism and coloniality?

Could the analysis of said constellations help to explore possible forms of decolonial futures? In combination with decolonial studies, what do queer, feminist and postcolonial practices and theories bring to archival research? How could visual arts become a resource for decoloniality of archives? How could (de)coloniality question the meaning and method of comparativity and archival politics?

Due to the limited number of participants, please send an email with your name until Friday, April 1, 2016 to info@vbkoe.org.

Funded by Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, City of Vienna Departement for Cultural Affairs MA7, Future Fund of the Repuplic of Austria.