inter:archive

Curators
Giovanna Bragaglia, Miwa Negoro, Camille Regli

Place and Date
inter-archive.org
Online since April 2020

Curatorial Text

inter:archive is an ongoing and experimental research project in the form of a digital platform dedicated to explore and interact with the multiple facets of intersectional feminism.

Due to the covid-19 pandemic hitting the globe in winter/spring 2020, the physical manifestation of inter:archive was constrained to suspension. As part of zürich moves 2020’s official programme* the project was intended to take place as a temporary and «particip-active» source on the theme of intersectionality at the OnCurating Project Space from 4 April to 3 May 2020. For the opening event, inter:archive was planned to be activated by the live performances of artist Josephine Baan alongside with artist Amos Cappuccio, artist Tina Reden and artist Romy Rüegger, as well as with the workshop ‘MEXA! The female takeover’ by artist Paloma Ayala and curator Adriana Dominguez. In collaboration with stage designer Elisabeth Fritsch, the ZHdK Bibliotek and media centre, Frauenstreikhaus, and VOLUMES, inter:archive aimed to challenge the standard library constellation and categorisation by displaying and assembling a miscellany of intersectional feminism sources in an interactive and participative way.

Against all odds, inter:archive is not stopping and has transitioned to the digital sphere. The online version is an experimental space developed in a time of social paralysis in order to maintain the initial elements of research induced in the project while at the same time exploring an alternative format. It is not about exhaustivity but about a collective opportunity to share fragments of references and works, in which the topics of gender, race, sexuality, class, ethnicity and disability intersect. In an endeavour of emancipation, awareness and care, the pieces take a stand towards the multiple injustices, differences and discriminations still overtly present in our contemporary society.

Since its launch in April 2020, inter:archive will navigate through the different facets of intersectionality by sharing content ranging from texts, images, quotes, poems, zines to soundpieces, mixtapes, videos and more. In line with the initial gesture of the spatial design, the digital version of inter:archive will present the materials non-linearly, creating an assemblage for visitors to (re)arrange in their own sensibility.

In addition, new contributions by Zurich-based artists will embody and interact with the collected material, including the zürich moves’s artists invited for inter:archive, Josephine Baan & Amos Cappuccio, Tina Reden, and Romy Ruegger, as well as an online adaptation of the MEXA! The female takeover‘s workshop by Paloma Ayala and Adriana Dominguez. These contributions will be shared every week throughout the month as a form of activation of the archive and a means of exploration and reinvention amidst this exceptional moment of crisis.

*Initiated in 2012 by Marc Streit, zürich moves! is a week-long festival presenting contemporary artistic practices in the field of performing arts developed in the context of transnational and transgender artistic engagement. Before the pandemic, the 2020 edition of zürich moves! planned to focus on the Zurich art scene, inviting artists and performers whose practices were informed by feminism and more specifically intersectionality.