Archive of Fear and Love - On the discourse of history, memory and nostalgia in contemporary art

Abstract

In my master thesis project, I deal with the ongoing discourse in contemporary art on archive, memory, nostalgia and history. I am making different versions of archival “total” installations dealing with nuclear power, fear, hope and connections between the political and the private. Starting out with the appropriation of found texts, objects, photos and film footage merged with personal memories I rework the material – transforming it, bending it, adding to it and making new connections between the objects. The aim is to both deconstruct and reconstruct the past in order to offer alternative historical accounts and also putting the search light on the power structures and societal norms that make up the foundations of established historical research. Whose history is being written and what is excluded? I incorporate elements and fragments of life that I as a historian would have found irrelevant, and thereby open up for a more “true” and democratic history where the viewer visiting my installations will become a co-producer of the work. My installations are made up of mixed media: video, painting, sculpture, found objects and texts. In my artistic process theories of art, culture and society are important sources of inspiration. On the other hand, the strongest driving forces for me to do art are in the physical materiality and the practical search process of the work itself.