POWER AND THE ARCHIVE: THE POWER OF THE ARCHIVE

In this two days long workshop at SAVVY Contemporary and S27, we explored what constitutes an archive in the digital era and play with different levels of archiving (family, national, social media, etc...). We worked with SAVVY Contemporary’s SAVVY.doc and Colonial Neighbours archives which aim to reflect upon the archive as a space of power and how such power can be used to counter dominant narratives. In the workshop we thought about history and participation and how we can think the future of archives through participation and inclusion. Two main pillars of SAVVY Contemporary are its archives, the Savvy.doc and Colonial Neighbours. Both archives aim to reflect upon the archive as a space of power and how such power can be used to counter dominant narratives. 

The power and nation making of archives was explained by Arlette Louise Ndakoze through the example of colonialism and its aftermath. Aouefa Amoussouvi invited us to explores the intersections between digital technologies and archives in the prisma of (de-)colonial and non-Western perspectives. Especially, the group discussed how the development of digital technologies creates opportunities as well as ethical challenges.