The Art of the Modern Archive: From Making Memories to Self-Fashioning

Catalog description

What is an archive, and how do we make them?From the selfies we take or the ticket stubs we treasure to the cultural institutions we visit, we are surrounded by different means of documenting our past and present for the future. This TIDES course investigates the concept of the archive through a wide array of archival networks available from personal, local, and even global perspectives. Following a brief grounding in the history of collecting artifacts/art as a means to fashion the self or formulate an identity, we will focus on how subsequent archival spaces are created –from the intimate to the expansive, from the tangible to the ephemeral/digital –and the issues at stake when developing the narrative that an archive relays. We will question the voices both resonant and silent in archival practice through guided reading and discussion as well as through visiting speakers and corresponding visits to local institutions to make connections across campus and across the city of New Orleans. Students will be encouraged to consider their own voice in this documentary process as they develop their own personal archive in a capstone project woven through the course.