The Archive as a Resource for Artists
August 20th, 7:30 PM
Swiss artist and researcher Denise Bertschi discusses her interest in the Getty Research Institute’s Harald Szeemann Archive. On occasion of their summer research residency at the GRI, they will talk about the archive's function in complicating the distincion between curatorial research and art making. What can an archive offer, beyond scholar research? Bertschi is expanding her main field of her artistic work in the massive collection of archival research file, with the goal ‘to chase the spirit of Szeemann’s highly intelligent and subtle strategies to create controversially discussed exhibitions, unsettling multi-layered discourses, that speak not only to the individual but also to broader societal co-inhabited spaces of community or even nation-states.
Pietro Rigolo, Assistant Curator for Modern and Contemporary Collections at the Getty Research Institute, Saida Largaespada archivist at Los Angeles Contemporary Archive (LACA) and Hailey Loman, Co-Founder and Director of Los Angeles Contemporary Archive (LACA), will also be joining the discussion. The evening will be moderated by Nicola Ruffo, Head of Public Programs at swissnex San Francisco, a Swiss organization, based in the Bay Area, connecting science, art and technology.
As the largest single archival collection ever acquired by the Getty Research Institute, the Harald Szeemann Archive and Library is an essential resource for the study of 20th century art history. The Harald Szeemann Archive and Library contains a comprehensive record of Szeemann’s correspondence with major artists, curators, and scholars from the late 1950s until his death in 2005, as well as significant collections of material from the early 20th century. The archive encompasses approximately 1,500 feet of archival research files, containing letters, ephemera, prints, drawings, floor plans, date books, videotapes, and a complete photographic record documenting Szeemann’s projects and the artists with whom he was associated.
Archives are essential for researching in an art historical context. But which history is going to be told and how? But what can an archive offer, beyond scholar research? Bertschi is expanding her main field of her artistic work in the massive collection of archival research file, with the goal ‘to chase the spirit of Szeemann’s highly intelligent and subtle strategies to create controversially discussed exhibitions, unsettling multi-layered discourses, that speak not only to the individual but also to broader societal co-inhabited spaces of community or even nation-states.
Denise Bertschi lives and works in Switzerland. Her artistic research-based practice is reflected in video-installations, photographs and the format of publications. Building on the materials she collects, in archives and elsewhere, she develops her own forms of narrative, in which the documentary – traditionally understood as a pure representation of reality – begins to dissolve. Bertschi has been dedicating herself since several years to unmask Switzerland’s political neutrality as an impossible balancing act. Meanwhile, she examines how national identities are created through collective memories and cultural myths. Within this matrix she searches for that which is hidden, secret, overlooked and repressed, presented with their discoveries in subtle works.
Hailey Loman, Los Angeles Contemporary Archive (LACA)
Hailey Loman is a multi-disciplinary artist working in sculpture, installation and performance. Her research attempts to expose memories and systems of cataloging the past as they intersect with political forces, resulting in complex levels of distortion and mythology. She is the Co-Founder and Director of Los Angeles Contemporary Archive (LACA), an artist-run archive and non-circulating library in which contemporary creative processes are recorded and preserved. Her work has been shown at the Fowler Museum, Los Angeles; Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, Los Angeles; Human Resources Gallery, Los Angeles; and Queen’s Nails Annex, San Francisco. She received a BFA from San Francisco Art Institute.
Pietro Rigolo, Getty Research Institute
Pietro Rigolo is Assistant Curator for Modern and Contemporary Collections at the Getty Research Institute (GRI). He earned a Doctorate in Art History from Università degli Studi di Siena / Istituto Italiano di Scienze Umane. In 2013 he joined the GRI as the subject expert in the team processing the Harald Szeemann papers, and has been part of the curatorial team of the exhibition Harald Szeemann: Museum of Obsessions, which opened at the GRI in February 2018 and is currently on view at Castello di Rivoli Museo d’arte contemporanea. At the GRI, Pietro also cataloged the archives of Barbara T. Smith, Maurice Tuchman, Juan Fassio, and of the Margo Leavin Gallery. He has published numerous papers and catalog essays for the Istanbul Biennale, Fondazione Nicola Trussardi, Pirelli HangarBicocca, Castello di Rivoli among others, and participated in panel and lectures in the United States, in Europe and in the Middle East.
Saida Largaespada is an archivist living and working in Los Angeles. She received her Master's in Library and Information Science from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Her interests lie in art and non-traditional collections. Currently she is the archivist at an California-based musician estates, and the Los Angeles Contemporary Archive (LACA). She is an active member of Society of American Archivists (SAA) and the Los Angeles Archivists Collective.
Moderated by Nicola Ruffo, swissnex San Francisco
Nicola Ruffo is a Swiss curator, writer and journalist. He studied international relations and film at the University of Zurich and Berlin. His work focuses on digital and urban culture. He has realized several exhibitions and film programs for galleries, foundations like the LUMA Foundation and institutions such as the Swiss Architecture Museum. Since January 2018 he works as Head of Public Programs at swissnex San Francisco, to connect Swiss creatives and scientists with the US West Coast.