Archival Speculations: Artistic Research and Transmedia Practice

Salzburg International Summer Academy of Fine Arts 2026

July 20–31, 2026

Course Premise

Archives are not merely repositories of the past. They are active sites where memories, histories, desires, and futures are negotiated. This course approaches the archive simultaneously as material, method, and artistic strategy. Participants will explore archival practices in contemporary art while activating personal and collective archives through experimental transmedia processes.

Working across photography, film, video, sound, text, performance, installation, and digital media, students will develop individual projects that ultimately converge into a collective multimedia installation. The course combines artistic research, critical reflection, technical experimentation, and collaborative exhibition-making.

WEEK 1

Mapping the Archive

Session 1 — July 20

Introduction: Artistic Research and the Archive

Topics:

Introduction of participants
Course structure and expectations
What is artistic research?
What is an archive?
The archive as process rather than repository
Critical artistic research as transmedia practice

Activities:

Presentation of participants’ practices
Archival mapping exercise
Collective discussion

Output:

Initial archive inventory
Research questions

Session 2 — July 21

Archival Practices in Contemporary Art

Topics:

Archive as intervention
Archive as fiction
Archive as speculation
Contemporary artistic references

Artists:

Harun Farocki
Walid Raad
Susan Hiller
Akram Zaatari
Forensic Architecture
Hito Steyerl
Christian Kosmas Mayer
Pablo Martínez-Zárate

Activities:

Case-study discussions
Speculative archive exercise

Output:

Preliminary project proposal

Session 3 — July 22

Personal Archives: Narratives and Materialities

Topics:

Reading personal archives
Family archives
Institutional archives
Found materials
Material qualities of media

Activities:

Archive excavation workshop
Narrative mapping

Output:

Identification of key materials
First project sketches

Session 4 — July 23

The Body and the Archive

Topics:

Embodied memory
Performance and archival activation
Oral histories
The body as archive

Artists:

Rebecca Schneider
Tania Bruguera
La Pocha Nostra
Marina Abramović
Coco Fusco
Aura Arreola + Pablo MZ

Activities:

Performative exercises
Memory activation exercises
Recording sessions

Output:

Performative component proposals

Session 5 — July 24

Project Development and Installation Planning

Topics:

Individual consultations
Exhibition thinking
Spatial narratives
Installation formats

Activities:

Studio work
Collective review

Output:

Project roadmap
Technical requirements sheet

Session 6 — July 25

Independent Production Day

No formal class.

Participants work independently on:

filming
recording
editing
collecting materials
developing prototypes

Optional individual consultations.

July 26

Rest Day

WEEK 2

Activating the Archive

Session 7 — July 27

Aesthetics and Ethics of the Archive

Topics:

Ownership
Representation
Testimony
Absence and erasure
Care and responsibility

Readings:

Ariella Azoulay
Saidiya Hartman
Christina Sharpe
Lola Olufemi

Activities:

Seminar discussion
Final project review

Output:

Final production plan

Session 8 — July 28

Production Studio

Topics:

Technical troubleshooting
Installation design
Spatial relationships

Activities:

Studio production
One-on-one mentoring

Output:

Advanced project prototypes

Session 9 — July 29

Collective Installation Production

Topics:

Collective authorship
Relations between works
Exhibition dramaturgy

Activities:

Fabrication
Testing projections, sound, objects

Output:

Installation components completed

Session 10 — July 30

Exhibition Assembly

Topics:

Display strategies
Spatial composition
Light, sound, and movement

Activities:

Rearrangement of the space
Installation of works
Final testing

Output:

Collective exhibition completed

Session 11 — July 31

Open Studio and Closing Session

Activities:

Open studio presentation
Collective walkthrough
Reflection circle
Documentation of projects

Questions:

What can archives do?
How has the project transformed?
What remains unresolved?

Final Output:
A collective multimedia installation composed of individual and collaborative works developed through archival research and transmedia experimentation.