User:Lidia.Pereira/TPTSL/ArchiveFever

Archive Fever

Archive fever is the internal contradiction (destruction drive / conservation drive), we only archive because we are aware of finitude and forgetfulness. There is no archive fever without the destruction drive.

“Within Archive Fever, the artist serves as the historic agent of memory, while the archive emerges as a place in which concerns with the past are touched by the astringent vapors of death, destruction and degeneration. Yet, against the tendency of contemporary forms of amnesia whereby the archive becomes a site of lost origins and memory is dispossessed, it is also within the archive that the acts of remembering and regeneration occur, where a suture between the past and present and present is performed, in the indeterminable zone between event and image, document and monument.”

Jacques Derrida

Archive – Arkhe – Meaning both ontological principle, there were things commence (commencement) and nomological principle, social order, rule (commandement). The demands of the archive as something physical, has having a place – how to think of this? Derrida underlines the complexity between the oppositions of the various principles at work within the nomological and onthological principles. When Derrida says that the archive shelters itself form the memory which it shelters (arkhe) – does this mean that the archive does not always correspond to/respects its own definition? Does this mean that there is a lack of synchrony between both layers (nomological and ontologica) of the archive? What does that mean? The meaning of “archive” comes from the greek arkheion, a house, a residence of the superior magistrates, the archons. The archive appears thus as a means of political power, of law representation, underlining the impossibility of the neutrality of the archive. This domicialiation is very physical, in the sense that the archive is held there where the archon has his residence. Their function is to keep, mantain and interpret the archive. “Entrusted to such archons, these documents in effect state the law”. The necessity of a substrate, of a residence. The domiciliation marks the institutional passage from private to public, which does not necessarily mean a passage from the secret to non secret. Derrida underlines the idea of privilege as being associated with the archon, there were topological and nomological meet. Power and place intersect – toponomology. The archontic power as a power to consign, that is, gather together signs, systematize, unite, organize and configure.

But one must interrogate the legitimacy of the archontic power, and there where secrets menace the possibility of consignation there must be consequences for the theory of the archive and its institutional implementation. Thus, a science of the archive requires a theory of its institutionalization – what right authorizes the archive to hold law defining powers? Derrida then goes on to talk about the different relations at play in the management of the archive, whether institutional or consignational, like the relation between public and private, secret and non-secret, classification, putting into order. Presentation of three hypotheses, which have in common the impression left, by the Freudian signature, on the concept of the archive and archivization, and, so, in historiography. The author questions into the nature of the history of the formation of a concept in general and not only on historiography in general or the history of the concept of the archive. Exergue functions as a way to set the tone for the archive (pre-archive), that is, it gives it a specific order, has both an institutive (posits the law) and conservative function (conserves the law). From that we can conclude that the archive is also both institutive and conservative.

1. Typographical exergue

Better conformation of the archive with its concept, being more influenced by the outside than the outside. Printing as a method for archivization, bearing with it questions of what is worthy of archivization and what is not, investment and economically-wise. In order to justify documentation, there has to be something new (profitability). In Freud, ironically, this justification bears the form of the thesis of a destruction drive, a drive of loss, which Freud was at first reluctant to accept. Death, destruction, aggression drive. This drive is silent, it leaves no trace, no archive; in fact, “it works to destroy the archive”, destroying it before it even exists on the outside. It enters a state of exception when it disguises itself. However, the destruction drive leaves no traces behind – incites not only the annihilation of memory (mneme), but also the annihilation of the archive (hypomnema – supplement or representative of memory). The archive can never be reduced to the spontaneity of memory – it's origin is the failing of the memory. The archive as an external representation of memory, as a technique of repetition, of something which needs to be consigned and have a substrate, an outside. Here a paradox is born: the archive needs exteriorization, which allows for, among other things, repetition. But this same repetition is indissociable from the death drive. From this we must conclude that, at the heart of what permits the archive is the destruction drive (the archive working against itself). This drive “even threatens every principality, every archontic primacy, every archival desire. It is what we will call, later on, le mal d'archive, archive fever.)” Freud justifies the expenses associated with the archive by putting forward the thesis of a death drive, whose function is to burn the archive, to destroy its economic principle, the capitalization of memory (paradox). The co-optation by the archive of the destruction drive, through means of capitalization, justification and reinvestment.

The Magic Mystic Pad - “Machine intended to represent on the outside memory as internal archivization”, that is, an attempt at representing the functioning of the psychic apparatus in an exterior technical model. Here Derrida poses the question whether new resources, new archival machines, affect Freud's discourse. The status of the “materialized” supplement is not properly explored by Freud – The machine condemns in itself the mnemic spontaneity – the machine represents death and finitude within the psyche. But this machine is becoming more and more similar to memory. Future – evolution of the archivization of techniques. Two order of questions arise from this evolution: 1. Concerns the theorectical exposition of psychoanalysis, its object, the representation of the psychical apparatus. Question whether the “mystic pad” resists the evolution of archival techno-science. How does this evolution affect the psychic apparatus? Is it better represented or affected differently? Derrida argues that one can't be reduced to the other. If this evolution affects the structure of the psychic apparatus, it is no longer only its representation that is at stake. (Our psychic structures would have changed with this evolution, thus the content of the archivable would have also changed and psychoanalysis history would nowadays be completely different?) 2. Archivization of psychoanalysis itself – institutional and clinical practices. Academic, scientific and juridic-editorial aspects of publication and translation. The archivable and the archiving of the archive. How was the field affected by the archivization technology available? The archival landscape would have changed if there were printers, internet, etc. The archiving would have changed the history of psychoanalysis. The technical structure of the archiving determines the structure of the archivable content. The example of e-mail is of importante in this case due to the privileged role correspondence plays in the psychoanalytic archive. E-mail plays an important role in transforming the public and private space, blurrying their limits, blurrying the secret (private and public) with the public. This new instrument has, necessarily, political and juridical consequences concerning property rights, publishing and reproduction rights. Nowadays there's an intensificating gap between classical Freudian studies and us, but this takes nothing away from their importance and meaning. This means that archival technology determines also the institution of the archivable event, not merely the moment of the conservational recording. Not only the form, the structure of the documentization, but also its content. The archive is a token of the future, the archivable meaning is determined by the structure which archives. The archive exteriorization of the psychic apparatus integrates also repression, censorship, recording, and also an outside within the psyche itself (domestic outside, internal substrate). “The theory of psychoanalysis, then, becomes a theory of the archive – not only a theory of memory”. Archive fever is then the internal contradiction (destruction drive / conservation drive), we only archive because we are aware of finitude and forgetfulness. There is no archive fever without the destruction drive.

2. Document of an archive Private inscription – its belonging to an archive – which? What kind? Where to draw a limit? Parallel between Freud's House as a museum an the house of the arkhon. Example of a private inscription on the public domain: dedication of Freud's grandfather to his son, having the bible as a substract. Archontic dimension (“lawmakers”), without which one could have no archive. The logic and semantics of the archive memory, accumulation, capitalization, archival layers.

Photography Between History and the Monument – Okwui Enwezor

“The archive is first the law of what can be said, the system that governs the appearance of statements as unique eventes. But the archive is also that which determines that all these things said do not accumulate endlessly in an amorphous mass, nor are they inscribed in an unbroken linearity, nor do they disappear at the mercy of chance external accidents.” Michel Foucault. Again the ideas of consignation, juridicial power, etc

“Archive Fever explores the ways in which artists have appropriated, interpreted, reconfigured, and interrogated archival structures and archival materials.” Photography and film as forms of archival material. The idea of uniqueness of the photographic image is introduced, and, consequently, the idea of the photograph as an archival record – through mecanical inscription and direct reference which proves the existence of the subject. Photography has the capacity of accurate description. As such, the camera emerges as an archival machine, being every film an archival object. Its reproductibility makes it the more archival. Its uses in different spheres of human existence gives photography the status of a critical instrument of archival modernity. The archival formation was revolutionized by the advent of mechanical reproduction, which comprises processes of permanent digital archivization and inscription. This changes generate a feverish pace of pictorial generation and accumulation (archival madness). Here we can make a link to Derrida's interrogations about the impact of the technical evolution of archival technologies - The technical structure of the archiving determines the structure and content of the archivable. The archive as establishment of relations between public and private, documentations and commentary, critique and analysis, power and subordination. The archive is both form and medium in contemporary art. “The variety and range of archival methods and artistic forms, the mediatory structures that underpin the artists' mnemonic strategies in their use of the archive and the conceptual, curatorial, and temporal principles that each undertakes, point to the resilience of the archive as both form and medium in contemporary art”. “Transpose nature into a pictorial fact, and consequently into an archival system” The photographic document as a replacement of the object or the event, not merely a record of it.

Domestic photographic production – Photography as time travel, sentimentality. This kind of modality entails a deep etnographic meaning. Photographic aura thus concerns its existence as an anthropological artifact and the authority of a social instrument. With the advent of techonologies such as social media websites, file-sharing programs, etc, a “vast, shapeless empire of images” was created, which has the impossibility of unity as a consequence. We witness the collapsing of barriers such as amateur/professional, private and public, etc. Users become distributers of archival content through image sharing.

Then the author moves on to talk about photography as a means of institutional regulation, of control over bodies and identities. Vigilance, examination, normalizing judgement. With the influence of positivist ideas, there was an institutional attempt at unification of knowledge from different sources, so as to provide the system with scientific authenticity (although it as a fictional unity). Here we witness the photography as a means of normalization and classification (“the criminal type”, etc). Thus, photography is understood as a means of social control through differentiation relying on dubious scientific data. The “outcasts” only assume a important part within the archive in order to underline their abnormality. “Positivis attempts to define and regulate social deviance.”

Archival production within the context of art, being photographic archive on of the many possible ways. Duchamp and the work of art as an archive. The museum of archive, the production of meaning through the establishment of taxonomy regulated relationships between the works of art. The archive determines the survival and transformation of statemens. Duchamp's work “La boîte-en-valise”, besides being a critic, reflects on the myth of a coherent artistic identity. The principle of collectivization as a disciplinary method of photography.

Consignation - “The archive achieves its authority and quality of veracity, its evidentiary function, and interpretive power – in short, its reality – through a series of designs that unite structure and function.” The principle of “domiciliation” defined by the archival structure. Photography as a mnemonic object, logic of domiciliation and consignation.

Attempt at collecting intelligence in Iraq, the U.S. as arkhon, being the archive, the database, that is, the informational a means of power and control. Fake documents regarding the existence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, produced in an attempt to justify war. This manufactured data represents a disturbance of the historical fidelity of the archive. In the Victorian era, there was a burning desire to collect intelligence, data, as a means to retain power, which produced one of the most proficuous eras in archive-making – unified information, which resulted in control through ideological manipulation. The archive here appears as data to be acted upon. It was during this period that Tibet was mapped for the first time, through what we can call as “archive making by the principles of espionage”. The unifying of this information by private entities which retained hermeneutical power (again we can recall Derrida), its normalizing power through ideological manipulation conveys the idea of the archive as an instrument of control and discipline. This represented a control over the flow of information (networks of archival manipulation or data generation). This control through data manipulation should be perceived as something in “our” best interest, as national security. We give up on privacy in order to be safe (society of control – Deleuze).