Desperate archives
In this exhibition, we re-purposed our own archival material from the last 20 years of work together in order to explore the issues of having, holding, and letting go. These interactive installations playfully critiqued an archival frenzy that occurred at a time when many of our worldly possessions were being swept out to sea. Audiences encountered piles of our archival material, and were invited to purchase souvenirs to add to their own archive. As co-collaborators, audience members were also invited to leave a contribution to the archive.
And just as a storm exposes what’s underneath the surface of a once bright and shiny thing, Desperate Archives revealed the infrastructure of the Split Britches creative process by highlighting the individual contributions made by collaborators: Vivian Stoll, Stormy Brandenberger, Susan Young, Lori E Seid, Matt Delbridge, Oraison H. Larmon, Eva Weiss, Saskia Scheffer, Jo Palmer and many others including our audience. As collaborators on our intergenerational future, the Man Meat Collective populated the gallery with occasional live interventions.
The exhibition was the result of initial explorations in preparation for the development of a live performance entitled Desperate Archives funded in part by the MAP Fund’s Creative Exploration Grant and with assistance from the Hemispheric Institute.
“Desperate Archives exposes the infrastructure of performance by emphasizing process and attachment, highlighting collaboration as the project for the future. While these archives are generative, they are also full of refuse-remnants of the past that have been stored away for years waiting to be rediscovered and to perform publicly again.”
Excerpt from FEELING DESPERATE by Benjamin Gillespie, Ph.D Candidate in Theatre, The Graduate Center, CUNY