Working along the archival grain: Building, preserving and sharing independent art archives and cultural material in Indonesia, Malaysia and Australia
The 13th International Convention of Asia Scholars (ICAS13), 28 July - 1 August 2024
Universitas Airlangga, Surabaya, Indonesia
APTCCARN Members A/Prof Nicole Tse and Dr Eliza O’Donnell were part of a roundtable panel addressing the theme ‘Working along the archival grain: Building, preserving and sharing independent art archives and cultural material in Indonesia, Malaysia and Australia’ for the 13th International Convention of Asia Scholars (ICAS13) in Surabaya, Indonesia from 28 July - 1 August 2024. Chaired by Eliza O’Donnell, panel members included Nicole Tse, Kiki Rizky Soetisna Putri, Agni Saraswati, Lisistrata Lusandiana, Brandon Liew and Chloe Ho.
PANEL ABSTRACT
Art archives play a critical role in supporting exhibition development, producing scholarship, preserving the cultural record and providing a valuable source of documentation on the provenance of artworks, as well as the historical and cultural context in which they were produced. In Indonesia, archives established by artists and cultural practitioners in the last two decades have addressed a noted 'deficiency of information' in the realms of art history and cultural production (Juliastuti and Merdikaningtyas, 2007, p. 18). Many independent art archives established since 2000 have expanded their scope to encompass artworks, installations, exhibitions, social media platforms, publications, workshops, and events. Furthermore, recent years have seen a growing emphasis among scholars and arts practitioners on the significance of archive management by artists themselves, coinciding with a heightened interest in the study of art history. This is demonstrated by the increasing number of independent art archives established in the region by arts practitioners, aligning with Ann Laura Stoler's concept of working 'along the archival grain' (Stoler 2009). Stoler challenges historians to critically reflect on the creation and utilisation of documents and their role in knowledge production, viewing archives not solely as repositories for knowledge retrieval, but as monuments of states and sites of ethnography (Stoler 2002, p. 90).
Building on these ideas and addressing the theme ‘Transmitting Knowledges: Institutions, Objects and Practices’, this roundtable panel discussion brings together scholars, arts practitioners, conservators, curators and art historians from Indonesia, Malaysia and Australia to share insights into working with art archives in the Asia Pacific region. Roundtable participants will be asked to reflect on their own experiences and challenges of building, preserving, sharing and accessing artist records, responding to critical approaches to knowledge production and transmission in the archive. The following questions may provide prompts for discussion:
How can we collaborate with living artists to record artist knowledge for future generations?
What role does intellectual property play in the archive? Who is the author/ the authorised source?
Where/how are art archives currently stored, accessed, shared and activated?
Lastly, how can archives evolve from being repositories for knowledge retrieval, to active ‘monuments of states and sites of ethnography’?
This interdisciplinary panel aims to foster critical discussions on the role and significance of art archives in the Asia Pacific region, focusing on Indonesia, Malaysia and Australia, while also addressing the challenges and opportunities of independent art archiving practices going forward.