Open Archive
Reuse of digital collections in museums and archives produces new stories in potentially surprising, innovative forms. For Open Archive, Het Nieuwe Instituut and the Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision have invited makers to create new work using archive items from their digital collections. Artist Guy Königstein, filmmaker Donna Verheijden and artist/designer Oana Clitan will develop new media works based on both institutions' online digital collections as part of the Open Archive project. They will present their work at Dutch Design Week 2019.
19 October 2019 11:00 - 27 October 2019 17:00
Oana Clitan
Future news, official screens
Who might the broadcasters, producers and newsreaders of the future be? And how would the government interact with these parties during a crisis?
Oana Clitan's project uses the rhetoric of historical and current news broadcasting to speculate on how information will be presented in the future. The installation explores a scenario in which electrical devices are damaged, so that it is impossible to produce new visual content. The only means of visual expression in this world is through scarce, salvaged archival materials, which the government uses to inform citizens about the latest developments in the crisis.
Guy Königstein
Dear past, what would it take to throw you off balance?
Like frozen spaces from times gone by, silent meeting rooms, empty staircases, dusty shelves, long corridors and closed doors provide a stage for uninvited visitors. Guy Königstein assumes the role of one unexpected guest, harmless intruder or shy ghost, wandering through the archive's maze in search of connections and ways of belonging. Opening drawers and files, he asks the question: 'Dear past, what would it take to throw you off balance?'
Coming Out
A series of glass negatives has been found in the Gispen archive, which was probably made for advertising purposes. The photographs show a male model demonstrating how to assemble an archetypal Gispen filing cabinet.
Guy Königstein takes the viewer back to the moment when the photographs were taken. In his interpretation, it becomes an intimate occasion where the distinction between model and product, between the ambitions of photography and archiving, and between the functions of exposure and concealment are blurred.
Donna Verheijden
The Stolen Archive
At a meeting of the Society on the Vuurtoreneiland in the IJmeer in the 1950s, a covenant was made. Now, sixty years later, Qamilla and Arianna have been assigned by the Society to steal a number of archival documents from various State archives. The documents must be made public on 2 January 2022. In the video installation we follow Qamilla and Arianna on their search in the archives.
Open Archive, video: Marit Geluk.