#ArchiveGiftshop
Camden Arts Centre, London, UKDemelza Watts and Nicole Vinokur
#ARCHIVEGIFTSHOP was commissioned by Camden Arts Centre to celebrate the centre's 50th birthday and launch of their digital archive. Camden Arts Centre has showcased an extensive number of female and non-binary artists over the last 50 years under its director Jenni Lomax, we were interested in talking about this history by responding to material in their archives. We were also interested in the notion of 'the gift' and how we could gift the archive to members of the public by making it into wearable merchandise. By transferring the almost static state of the archive into mobile wandering souvenirs we are able to disseminate its contents and bring into focus the ideas, work and lives of these artists. The merchandise carry slogans which push and pull through time in conversation with the artists and associated archival material. Members of the public are asked to participate in creating the merchandise using our slogans or their own in response to the same material. Items are free on condition they are promoted heavily through social media.
