Active Archives

Research and development of free software archive tools in collaboration with cultural institutions.

Constant has a long history in working with and reflecting on memory, forgetting, preserving and disclosure. The current challenge is in connecting digital archives with open standards on one side and working with web 2.0 indexation systems on the other, keeping in mind that privacy is a priority and ’not indexing’ is not an option.

The archives of cultural institutions are rich in material, they manifest different archiving techniques and specific characteristics, they often share features and problems with colleague-institutes, such as for example: How do you categorize? Who is author or collaborator? Are collaborators writers or protagonists with a different role?


Related events

Close Encounters: Active Archives

2018
In the context of the series Close Encounters, Nicolas Malevé, Femke Snelting and a.pass researcher Pierre Rubio will discuss the long history of Active Archives. Active Archives started in 2006 (…)

Scandinavian Institute of Contemporary Comparative Vandalism, workshop

2014
A workshop that takes as a starting point the archive of the Scandinavian Institute of Comparative Vandalism (SISV) initiated by Asger Jorn in 1961 with Peter Glob and Werner Jacobsen. Together (…)

Data Radio: Erkki Kurenniemi (in 2048) @ Kiasma

2013
Constant members Michael Murtaugh and Nicolas Malevé present a second iteration of the Data Radio in the framework of the Kurenniemi’s retrpospective in Kiasma. The project is a webradio that (…)

From image to data, about a dividing line

2013
Michael Murtaugh and Nicolas Malevé will contribute to the seminar Document, fiction et droit, organised by ArBa-EsA and the University of Aix-Marseille. Their presentation will focus on the (…)

Sniff and sneak through my archives

2013
A presentation of the project Erkki Kurenniemi (In 2048) in the framework of Archives of Software Art, an event organized by Jussi Parikka and Burak Arikan. The presentation will take as a point (…)

Eleven Orderings

2013
Eleven Orderings is a proposal by Michael Murtaugh and Nicolas Malevé to revisit the collection of documents of the Norwegian artist Guttorm Guttormsgaard, some 25 000 items collected throughout (…)

Life Archives (Kurenniemi). Archive in Motion, workshop

2013
The Archive in Motion investigates the ways in which archival concepts and practices have been transformed under the impact of the radical changes in writing and recording technologies. Archive in (…)

Programa público Marginalia, Anarchivo sida

2013
The Marginalia project developed by Aimar Arriola articulates a proposal of critical reactivation of the Pepe Espaliú Library: http://www.eremuak.net/0303marginalia. Various collectives are (…)

Seminar Sound + Art: Curating and Interfacing Archives

2013
As part of Systemics #1 programme, Kunsthal Aarhus hosts a public seminar on the issues of experiencing, remembering and curating sound art/sound archives. Members of Constant, Michael Murtaugh (…)

Workshop Kurenniemi Dataradio

2013
Michael Murtaugh and Nicolas Malevé, members of Constant will share their enthusiasm for Kurenniemi’s practice that involves various experiments in audio recording, diaristic practice and playful (…)