Releasing the Archive

Following the closure of an old, semi-abandoned anthropological museum in San Francisco, Doug Bailey, a Visual Anthropology professor and researcher, received part of that museum's collection. It contained, in what he understood to be a controversial photographic archive of dubious ethical foundations. In hundreds of 35mm images, this archive contained disturbing and random records of ethnic categorization, animal dissection and human biology.

What came into his hands was truly bizarre; although disorganized, incoherent, and wrapped in a mystery inherent to the passing of time, it evidently revealed all the remnants of the colonizing nature of Euro-American Ethnography and Anthropology.

In this exhibition, Doug Bailey problematizes the visual archives' role in dealing with memory, culture, and political power.

Releasing the Archive is both a suggestion and a provocation, intended to liberate imprisoned souls but also to incite a debate about the existence and treatment of archival material.

The current exhibition, designed for the crossed-theme program "For the eyes but not only" by Carpintarias de São Lázaro, also includes a performative approach, where the public plays a central role. There will also be debates during June, where several contributors and the public will be able to bring and discuss their own experiences.

Doug Bailey (b. 1963) is a visual anthropologist, photographer and archaeologist whose work crosses the disciplinary boundaries of the crossings between Art, History and Archaeology. He is currently a Visual Archaeology Professor at San Francisco State University (USA).


CONVERSATION/DEBATE:
Saturday, June 19, 2021 at 5pm, the conversation "What is the future of our images?" will be held at Carpintarias, as part of the exhibition "Releasing the Archive", now on display at the Cultural Center.
The conversation, open to the public, will feature Doug Bailey, Rosa Bela Azevedo (Torre do Tombo Nacional Archive), Rita Cachado (CIES, Iscte-IUL) with research alongside with Sónia Vespeira de Almeida (NOVA-FCSH) and the artists Luciana Fina and Manuel Botelho.
As part of the Carpintarias' programming cycle "For the eyes but not only", this meeting seeks to expand knowledge and raise questions about the reality, practice, and future of the visual archive - historical or the ones under construction.
This initiative is supported by FLAD - Luso-American Development Foundation.


EXHIBITION CREDITS

Programming:
"For the eyes but not only" 2021
Carpintarias de São Lázaro - Cultural Center

Exhibition Design:
Fernando Belo

Publishing Design:
Alda Galsterer
Ana Malta

Communication design
Ana Malta
Fernando Belo
Alda Galsterer

Installation Texts Contributors
Luísa Correia da Silva
Fernando Belo

Communication and Production
Luísa Correia da Silva
Luís Leal

Editing
Filipe Dominguez
Luís Leal

Lighting Editing:
Hypnosis

Public Reception:
Ana Rita Dias
Joana Vieira
Júlia Ataíde
Marquesa Giraud
Milagros Montejano
Naomi Machado

Acknowledgments:
International Museum of Contemporary Sculpture - Santo Tirso