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21 May 2026 @ Roodkapje West
anarchival talk met Florian Cramer
eccentric (an-) archives
histories of experimental, fantastic, and anarchic archives
In the second anarchival talk we will hear from researcher & DIYer Florian Cramer. During the first talk Whose Side Are You On? with Lilah V. from the Jose Maria Sison Legacy Foundation we dove into the question of for whom is the archive? We considered a brief history of archiving as a science given life through revolutions of the past and how archives can be used as a weapon to advance revolutionary aspirations today. During this talk we approach the concept of the anarchive from a viewpoint of artistic practice and collection. Archives are often seen as institutional, preserving (also in the sense of conservative) and focused on canonical heritage. Often archives are also the opposite of that: eccentric, chaotic and/or anarchic collections, often set up by people who are obsessed with a certain topic and who give it an idiosyncratic system. Think of record collections, eccentric libraries, a hoarder’s apartment or collections of subcultural production. They all raise questions as: what is the difference between a personal composition of objects, a collection or an archive? When does it become important to document history by means of objects?
During his lecture, Florian will dive into these questions with the audience, with examples such as the bookstore and later library of the Mexican-Dutch artist Ulises Carrión, the Black Ark from dub producer Lee “Scratch” Perry, but also problematic cases such as the Wunderkammen during the colonial period.
about Florian Cramer
Practice-oriented research professor at Willem de Kooning Academy + writer and DIY media maker since the postpunk-era of the '80s. Associate member of the Pearl River Delta-based Display Distribute collective, running the Rotterdam Relay Center of its volunteer-run global courier network LIGHT LOGISTICS. Recently, he donated his 100kg heavy zine archive about subcultural currents of Neoism and Mail Art to the archive of the University of Dundee in Scotland.
histories of experimental, fantastic, and anarchic archives
In the second anarchival talk we will hear from researcher & DIYer Florian Cramer. During the first talk Whose Side Are You On? with Lilah V. from the Jose Maria Sison Legacy Foundation we dove into the question of for whom is the archive? We considered a brief history of archiving as a science given life through revolutions of the past and how archives can be used as a weapon to advance revolutionary aspirations today. During this talk we approach the concept of the anarchive from a viewpoint of artistic practice and collection. Archives are often seen as institutional, preserving (also in the sense of conservative) and focused on canonical heritage. Often archives are also the opposite of that: eccentric, chaotic and/or anarchic collections, often set up by people who are obsessed with a certain topic and who give it an idiosyncratic system. Think of record collections, eccentric libraries, a hoarder’s apartment or collections of subcultural production. They all raise questions as: what is the difference between a personal composition of objects, a collection or an archive? When does it become important to document history by means of objects?
During his lecture, Florian will dive into these questions with the audience, with examples such as the bookstore and later library of the Mexican-Dutch artist Ulises Carrión, the Black Ark from dub producer Lee “Scratch” Perry, but also problematic cases such as the Wunderkammen during the colonial period.
about Florian Cramer
Practice-oriented research professor at Willem de Kooning Academy + writer and DIY media maker since the postpunk-era of the '80s. Associate member of the Pearl River Delta-based Display Distribute collective, running the Rotterdam Relay Center of its volunteer-run global courier network LIGHT LOGISTICS. Recently, he donated his 100kg heavy zine archive about subcultural currents of Neoism and Mail Art to the archive of the University of Dundee in Scotland.
free entrance