Offline

Thursdays 8th and 15th August 2024, 12 noon – 4pm. Part of Govanhill International Festival and Carnival

A two-part workshop led by artists Mina Heydari-Waite and Lydia Bielby (Screen Bandita) that explores alternative approaches to the idea of the archive. Participants are invited to bring their own archival material (object, photographs, film, letters or more intangible things like memories, stories, song lyrics, dreams) which we will discuss and use as the basis to explore ways of creating new 16mm moving image work. – collaboratively archiving the connections and resonances between our collective temporary archive that we have brought together.

Responding to Heydari-Waite’s recent exhibition ‘Farang / فرنگ ‘ at Offline, these workshops will question the idea of the archive as a repository of knowledge that constructs and legitimises a singular ‘history’. Heydari-Waite’s work is guided by Stuart Hall’s notion of ‘the living archive’, an ever-evolving relational entity that holds multiple contested narratives. Her approach resonates with Screen Bandita’s philosophy, in considering archives as vibrant and dynamic entities that should be ‘constantly reinvigorated, reinterpreted, reinvented and debated’. The workshops aim to challenge preconceived ideas of what an archive is and can be, and who holds the authority to shape them.

We would particularly like to encourage participants who have experience or histories of migration, and whose stories may feel absent from conventional narratives on Scotland’s history. Register your interest in participating here.

Lunch will be provided.

‘The Ground Is Not Unchanging’ is a collaborative project between artist Mina Heydari-Waite and Offline. Activities include film screenings, an exhibition, and experimental archiving workshops.

Supported by the National Lottery through Creative Scotland, Glasgow International Festival and Our Heritage Our Stories project at the University of Glasgow, funded by the AHRC as part of its TaNC programme.