Artists in Archives: For Interest Only at Burgess Foundation
Sarah-Clare Conlon, Literature Editor
Join Digital Women’s Archive North (DWAN) and the organisers of the annual Delia Derbyshire Day for this special evening exploring the role of contemporary feminist arts practice in unlocking archives that were once considered “for interest only”.
Since the post-war period, artists have embraced the “archival impulse”, challenging the way in which, according to art critic and historian Hal Foster in 2004, “historical knowledge and forms of remembrance are accumulated, stored and recovered”. This session aims to explore what practitioners can contribute in terms of new content, interpretation, methods of knowledge creation, and ways of working within archival narratives of preservation and access.
Event-goers will be invited to watch, listen to and participate in artists’ presentations, displays, creative responses, performances and workshop activities, and there will also be the opportunity to view some of musician and composer Delia Derbyshire’s (she of the “howling masterpiece” that is the Doctor Who theme tune) extensive archive from the John Rylands Library.
