STORAGE ALMOST FULL

The multimedia installation Storage Almost Full transforms the artist’s accumulated body of materials into a speculative archive while reflecting on the documentation and preservation of contemporary art. The work invites viewers to consider whether archives formed through processes of self-historicisation are objective records of the present and the past, or rather subjective testimonies containing traces of history and experiences embedded within collective consciousness that continue to repeat themselves in the unconscious of each individual.

The central object of the installation is a fireproof metal cabinet transformed into a cabinet of curiosities, containing artist-created, found, downloaded, and recorded artefacts from his own practice, all arranged in one place. These artefacts exist in both digital and physical form: video works, USB drives, hard disks, photographs, sketchbooks, notes, and exhibition posters. However, within this overabundance of information, a certain incompleteness becomes apparent — parts of the archive are damaged, some files cannot be opened, content repeats itself, and the archive itself has become technologically obsolete.

Storage Almost Full reflects different approaches to artists’ archives and archival principles — on both institutional and individual levels — as well as the contemporary digital reality in which devices are often “almost full,” while simultaneously raising questions: can digital presence guarantee the complete preservation of cultural memory? What do archives created through processes of self-historicisation reveal? How, and whether, are contemporary artists archived even before they become history?

Text and curated by Andra Silapetere

Supported by The project is supported by the Department of Education, Culture, and Sports of the Riga City Council and the State Culture Capital Foundation.

Photos by Reinis Hofmanis