Cultural Therapy and Concern for the Archive. The Case of Documentary Video Ar-chives by Tomáš Rafa
Cultural Therapy and Concern for the Archive. The Case of Documentary Video Ar-chives by Tomáš Rafa

Summary/Abstract: In this paper, the author explores current perspectives on contemporary art projects through the concept of the archive. By applying a theoretical framework termed “concern for the ar-chive”, the author aims to elucidate complex relationships between the archive as a medium and the situated practices of contemporary art. The paper examines contemporary art as a form of temporary memory storage, particularly through the analysis of Tomáš Rafa’s doc-umentary films. It addresses two key questions: What specific aspects of concern for the ar-chive can be identified in political or activist contemporary art? How does concern for the archive differ from archival care, and why is this distinction important? In the first section, the author discusses the “zones of contact” in political activist art, highlighting the formation of dialogical structures and distinguishing them from scientific research and purely documentary creation. The second section traces the layers of artistic training in Grzegorz Kowalski's renowned studio at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, where the author gained experience in organizing and documenting collective workshops. This part reveals the specifics of documentary video creation with its activist and archival overlaps. In the final sections, the author outlines a theoretical framework for interpreting doc-umentary video pieces in relation to the concepts of archive, cultural trauma, and cultural therapy.

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