Archive Space is an artist-run gallery in Sydney’s Newtown. Archive’s focus is to provide not only a space for the exhibition of work, but also platforms for critical engagement with, and discussion of, contemporary art. Their website contains an archive where documentation and texts relating to each exhibition are gradually being recorded, rather than disappear into the ether of ARI history as is so often the case.

‘Will to Keep’ Reader, published by Archive Space, Sydney, May 2014

I was recently invited by Archive to contribute to a reader which was produced as part of a satellite project called Will to Keep. The exhibition, curated by artist Lisa Sammut and held at 107 Projects in Redfern, Sydney, is a standalone extension of the Archive concept, featuring over a dozen artists and writers musing on the desire to remember, record and accumulate. Writers were invited to investigate “the role history, historical memory or its mechanisms play in the formation of contemporary works of art, curatorial practices or artist-run initiatives and the dialogue surrounding this”, as well as contribute “a unique hand-drawn diagram illustrating the writer’s own critical thinking on the exhibitions themes in relation to their text.” I enjoyed producing a text which used an artwork (Laurence Aberhart’s Files, Wanganui 1986, below) as a departure point to meander through some memories. The hand-drawn diagram was more of a challenge but a fun one nonetheless.

Laurence Aberhart, Files Wanganui, 1 July 1986, silver gelatin, selenium-toned print, 19.4 x 24.5 cm. Image courtesy the artist and Darren Knight Gallery, Sydney

You can purchase the reader for AUD$5 from Archive Space (it’s beautifully printed at The Rizzeria and in a limited edition of 56). The content will also be available online, check back for a link.

I’m also part of the Archive Writers Program for 2014. The exhibition program is still under wraps but check back mid-year when I will be writing on the work of an interesting exhibiting artist.