BIRGIT EUSTERSCHULTE // The Archive as a Model and Source of Unlearning

THE ARCHIVE AS MODEL AND SOURCE OF UN/LEARNING

Dialogical Approaches in the Work of Belinda Kazeem-Kamiński and Gulzat Egemberdieva

  BIRGIT EUSTERSCHULTE

This talk asks how the archive can be understood both as a model and as a source of unlearning and what challenges this poses for artistic works dealing with archival material. The emphasis is on artistic methods of historicization that deal with colonial history, the entanglement of coloniality and modernity and the continued effect of colonial patterns in the present.

The use of archives as sources for artistic historicizing does initially not appear to be unusual. However, the specific nature of the research lies in the investigation of artistic methods and approaches that can be understood as forms of unlearning and repairing narratives and historical mis/representation. This talk explores this question through the works of the Austrian artist Belinda Kazeem-Kaminński and the Kyrgyz artist Gulzat Egemberdieva who develop distinct…