ARCHIVETHING
THE ARCHIVETHING PROJECT
archiveThing is a new public web space designed to showcase the specificity and variety of contemporary cultural practices. Functioning like a virtual studio visit – it offers a place for artists to share aspects of practice not usually included in formal exhibitions.
These elements of artists works (the biographies of the objects) create rich contexts for artists’ works. Iterations, sketches, processes, background research, tests, conversations and notebooks, for example are implicit aspects of artworks.
This project seeks to create an exploratory space functioning as: a digital gallery, a public studio, artists archive, public commons. The aim is to share these comprehensive aspects of cultural production, the stories surrounding the works, and to build a space where artists can connect with new audiences.
BACKGROUND
Opportunities to share work in public spaces (museums, galleries & publications) have been diminishing. Contemporary practitioners contribute relevant discussions to important topics - yet artists have fewer opportunities to exhibit, connect, share, and grow audiences.
The mandate for our initiative is to create a new digital commons for contemporary artists to share their works across communities.
We compare archiveThing to artist-run centres, a network which also sprung from artists articulating and proactively acting upon their needs for community space - creating an active system of exhibition and discussion spaces. archiveThing moves beyond this model to address more contemporary needs as well – that of displaying work through digital platforms.
Artists have individual websites, but archiveThing is conceptualized as a public space, a public commons -where in-depth stories that surround works are shared and cross-pollination can occur.
ARTIST METADATA
We are calling the implicit stories that surround each work or practice 'artist metadata'. After studying other cultural metadata schemes we felt that artists voices were not included. We decided to create an open ended metadata schema that was fluid enough for artists with varying poetics, theories, methods, politics and practices.
Our artist metadata schema uses the metaphor of a set of 'archive drawers' - ready for the incredible variety of artists works and practices to be included in surprising and unpredictable ways.
