Archiving as a Form of Resistance

w/ Bisan Abu Eisheh and Michael Rakowitz. Hosted by Mayssa Kanaan and Jamie Steedman. Organised by: Arieh Frosh, Farvash, Jamie Steedman, Kaushikee Gupta, Mayssa Kanaan, Peter Spanjer.

The Forms of Resistance series of events organised by Contemporary Art Practice students Arieh Frosh, Farvash, Jamie Steedman, Kaushikee Gupta, Mayssa Kanaan, and Peter Spanjer for RCA2020 is an inquiry into the resistive functions and functioning of artistic practice. The series considers how certain modes of practice are positioned beside, and continually interact with, the urgency of so many political and demonstrative actions taking place globally right now; such as the collective calls in support of Black lives, the pre-Covid university strikes, and in consideration of the disproportionate effects of the pandemic. This series of talks, which will unfold through the duration of RCA2020, attempts to broach how certain practices or approaches to art can in themselves be seen as forms of resistance – ones that may be considered indirect, work alongside, breathe amongst, or are inseparable from other types of direct action.


Taking the form of scheduled audio broadcasts – in a modest attempt to combat the prevalent Zoom fatigue – a range of presentations and informal conversations between invited artists, researchers, and students will, in four separate chapters, discuss:


Empathy & Care as Resistance,

Fictioning as Resistance,

Past/Future as Resistance, and

Archiving as Resistance


These chapters will consider our understanding of each term as conceptual and material processes; analysing each as a continuing and fluid mode of operation, and how they may enact resistance on personal, institutional and state levels.