Archive fever: the archive dynamics in contemporary art

Abstract

The aim of this text is to explore the impact of the idea of archive in contemporary art. In “Archive Fever” Jacques Derrida explores the double sense of the etymological root of the word archive, which means both origin and command or Power of an authority. As the notion of archive is directly related to memory, personal and historical, the author reveals the relation of archive and power, arguing that there is a constant tension between maintenance and repression (conscious or unconscious) of memory. The archive fever would be associated with the death drive, loss of memory, which would have psychic, social and political consequences. Taking on account this approach, the idea of archive is identified as a central procedure in contemporary art practice. Many artists develop projects around notions of falsification of archives; appropriate and manipulate historical archive material; or use scientific methodology in their poetical processes, creating fictional archives and strange taxonomies.