Politics of Memory: Documentary and Archive

The anthology Politics of Memory investigates the changing relationship between artistic practices and the documentary. The document - offered as an objective trace left by events, as material proof or as the creation of reality - can transform a state of memory into 'state memory' through historical removal which, ultimately challenges permanent or temporary forgetting, casting memory into the future. Bringing together the work of international artists and filmmakers including Hito Steyerl, Eric Baudelaire and Clemens von Wedemeyer and others who attended the cycle of conferences held between 2009 and 2013 at Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti Milano, this illustrated softcover publication is the result of a multi-year research project promoted by NABA's Visual Arts and Curatorial Studies program. It begins with the idea of memory as a critical exercise and act of resistance and compares a variety of artistic expressions investigating forms of documentary making and archiving.