stranding

Why is it called a Play of Archiving? Because the word ‘play’ suggests an exchange. That is what this way of archiving is: an exchange between people (read: bodies) in relation to an archive item. The Play of Archiving is a way (read:gesture) for people to put the meaning they produced for an archive item in connection with that archive item. However, the archive item functions only as a catalyst for an exchange between people, it does not continue to be the focus of the exchange between people. This exchange is a sort of intimacy, where one person approaches another to reveal their memory or interest in an archive item. The Play of Archiving can take place in different spaces, or Venues. The Play of Archiving is portable and can work with diverse archives. The Play of Archiving is a set of parameters, it is not a set of rules. It asks that people use the archive items as part of an encounter and exchange. The Play of Archiving is a distillation of digA_p. The most important way that it differs from digA_p is that the Play of Archiving does not include the position of ‘documentor’, thus the Play of Archiving can be used with existing archives.