Archiving the online witness
September – December 2015
During her residency Sevie Tsampalla will examine how the acts of witnessing and testifying are expanding within contemporary digital frameworks. Commonly associated with archiving through narratives of trauma and collective identity, they are now implicated in a global civic context that exists online as much as it happens out on the streets. Uploaded footage from uprisings and conflict zones is counterbalanced by status updates of our most mundane rituals across (social) media platforms. What kind of archival practices are in line with the versions of social engagement and private narratives performed in front of virtual audiences? Alongside an online exhibition based on her research on the MOP archive, Sevie Tsampalla will initiate a platform for interdisciplinary exchange, inviting artists, practitioners and theorists to reflect on the proposed topics.
