Report from international conference Histoire(s) d’archives

Written by Marek Kettner (Faculty of Arts, Charles University)

Since the publication Jacques Derrida’s seminal work Mal d’Archive, the notion of the archive has been widely recognized as non-intuitive and problematic. Derrida’s inquiry holds together even more as time progresses and the technological capacities for gathering, archiving and structuring data about the past as well as literary, visual, acoustic and other materials are getting more efficient and powerful. Although it may seem so, the archive is not omnipotent, it doesn’t hide in its boxes and digital storage places the whole picture of the past. It is therefore helpful to keep lively the discussion about the nature and role of the archive in contemporary society. Such was the main motivation for the conference Histoire(s) d’archives which didn’t explore primarily the histories stored in various archives but rather focused on the histories of archives themselves. When were some of the internationally renowned archives founded, what was their development and how did they impact society? These were the main questions that the invited experts, among which archive directors, philosophers and historians, tried to tackle. The event was organized by the major actors of the network “AITIA – Archives of International Theory, an Intercultural Approach” as well as CNRS, CEFRES, Museum of Literature Prague, and the Jan Patočka Archives Prague. Continuer la lecture de Report from international conference Histoire(s) d’archives