Symposium
Encounters: Art, Power and Archives

Tue 18 Mar 2025 || 9:30am - 5:30pm

Past event
In collaboration with PARSE Journal

A one-day symposium examining how creative practices can disrupt power structures embedded in archival collections

Address

Autograph
Rivington Place
London EC2A 3BA, UK

past event

This event is now closed. View our current events here

ABOUT THE symposium

How can creative practices disrupt power structures within the archive? Autograph and Parse Journal present a new symposium examining strategies and methodologies to rethink, reimagine and reshape the histories embedded in archival collections.

We will examine how archival materials can be reactivated through diverse perspectives and disciplines, challenging dominant narratives. With a focus on decolonial and queer methodologies, this symposium will invite discussion on approaches that encourage a continual re-engagement with archives.

Encounters: Art, Power and Archives will highlight a broad range of voices, including artistic and scholarly research, creative and social projects, and provocations.

Hosted in Autograph's galleries, the symposium will take place surrounded by exhibitions underscoring the critical role of archives. Abi Morocco Photos: Spirit of Lagos is the first display of remarkable portraits from 1970s Lagos, possible through the ongoing efforts of the Lagos Studio Archives project, which aims to preserve and present the legacy of Nigerian studio photography. You will also see Rotimi Fani-Kayode: Staging Desire, the culmination of meticulous research into the artist’s archives, presenting never-before-seen works.

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Gallery one

Gallery two

programme
Tuesday 18 March

9:30 - 9:45am
Registration
9:45 - 10:00am
Welcome and introductions 


Challenging Institutional Archives and Institutions Working with Archives
Location: Gallery 1
Chair: Bindi Vora 

10:00 - 11am
11:00 - 11:30am
Discussion and Q&A
11:30 - 11:45am
Break (refreshments provided)


Breakout 1: Archives and AI
Location: Gallery 1
Chair: Nina Mangalanayagam

11:45am - 12:15pm
Presentations by Simon Popple and Alexey Yurenev
12:15 - 12:45pm
Discussion and Q&A
12:45 - 2:00pm
Break (lunch provided)


Breakout 2: Queering Archives and Queer Practices
Location:
Gallery 2
Chair: E.M. Parry  

11:45 - 12:15 pm
Presentations by Sean Cham and Luke Fawcett
12:15 - 1:00pm
Discussion and Q&A
1:00 - 2:00pm
Break (lunch provided)


Breakout 3: Retrieving Overlooked Histories Through Archives
Location: Gallery 1
Chair: Onyeka Igwe

2:00 - 2:30pm
2:30 - 3:15pm
Discussion and Q&A
3:15 - 3:30pm
Break (refreshments provided)


Breakout 4: The Postcard as a Circulation of the Archive
Location: Gallery 2
Chair: Jyoti Mistry

2:00 - 2:30pm
Presentations by Marlies Weileder, Abeer Almahdi and Nurul Huda Rashid
2:30 - 3:15pm
Discussion and Q&A
3:15 - 3:30pm
Break (refreshments provided)


Montage as Method: Assemblage and Splice
Location: Gallery 1
Chair: Sria Chatterjee

3:30 - 4:10pm
Presentation by Juliana de Assis Beraldo
4:10 - 4:40pm
4:40 - 5:00pm
Discussion and Q&A


Final Thoughts and Reflections
Location: Gallery 1

5:00 - 5:30pm
Discussion and Q&A

YOUR VISIT & Accessibility

Everyone is welcome at Autograph. Have a look at our Visit Us page to find out more about getting to the gallery, accessibility and more.

SAFETY MEASURES

Accessible VEnue

Autograph welcomes people with all types of disabilities.

sample

Step free

Our building and entrance is step free. A wheelchair accessible lift goes to all floors.

REfreshments

Tea and coffee will be provided throughout the day.

lunch INCLUDED

The ticket price includes lunch. Download the menu here.

Toilets

Toilets are on every floor, and are all gender neutral and wheelchair accessible.

frequently asked questions

Venue information and access
The symposium will be taking place at Autograph's gallery in Shoreditch. The venue and every floor has wheelchair access. We have set aside budget to support access to this symposium. Please let us know on the Eventbrite booking form if you have any access needs. If you’d like to discuss this further or in advance of booking please contact: harriet@autograph-abp.co.uk

Can I join the symposium online?
This is an in-person event only. However, select papers from the symposium will be published in an upcoming issue of Parse Journal, and content may also be shared on Autograph's website.

What is included in the ticket price?
Your ticket grants you access to all talks at the symposium, and includes complimentary lunch. Tea and coffee will be provided throughout the day.

about the lead images

Autograph and Parse Journal have chosen work from Sasha Huber's powerful series Tailoring Freedom (2021-2022) as the lead images for the Encounters: Art, Power and Archives symposium. These works were exhibited at Autograph in Huber's 2022 exhibition YOU NAME IT

In this series, Huber commemorates seven enslaved individuals, adopting art as a means to heal colonial traumas.

Read and see more

Acknowledgements

The Encounters: Art, Power and Archives symposium has been convened by Rose Brander, Jolie Hockings, Nina Mangalanayagam, Jyoti Mistry and Harriet Vickers.

Ticketing Policy

If you need to cancel your ticket for any reason, you can receive a refund up to 1 week before the start of the symposium. You do not need to bring your paper ticket to the event.

in partnership with

Banner image:  Sasha Huber, Tailoring Freedom – Jack and Drana, 2022. Metal staples on photograph on wood, 97 x 69 cm. Courtesy the artist. Commissioned by The Power Plant, Toronto; Autograph, London; Turku Art Museum, Finland; and Kunstinstituut Melly, Rotterdam, 2022. Original images courtesy the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University (Jack, 35- 5-10/53043; Drana, 35-5-10/53041).

Exhibition preview (left to right): 1) 
Abi Morocco Photos: Spirit of Lagos exhibition at Autograph, London. Curated by Bindi Vora and Lagos Studio Archives. Photograph by Kate Elliott. 2) Rotimi Fani-Kayode: The Studio – Staging Desire exhibition at Autograph, London. Photograph by Kate Elliott.

Your Visit and Accessibility: 3) Autograph, London. Photographed by Kate Elliott

About the Lead Images: 4) Sasha Huber, Tailoring Freedom – Fassena, 2022. Metal staples on photograph on wood, 49 x 69 cm. Courtesy the artist. Commissioned by The Power Plant, Toronto; Autograph, London; Turku Art Museum, Finland; and Kunstinstituut Melly, Rotterdam, 2022. Original image courtesy the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and. Ethnology, Harvard University, 35-5- 10/53048