Encounters in the Archival Commons

Despite the apparent newness of digital cultures, digital databases rely on historical remains – traces of bodies, affects and people’s labors. Encountering such remains in the digital open commons presents numerous challenges. For one, the archives of these traces often carry scenes of historical weight, entangled with racialized and gendered power structures. At the same time, using machinic methods to encounter the afterlife of these histories risks reproducing the vulnerability of archival subjects. How can careful and critical encounters with such archives be imagined? How may they negotiate the tensions between visibility and opacity? And how does care for the open commons look or feel like? With Daniela Agostinho, Nanna Bonde Thylstrup, Temi Odumosu, Cornelia Sollfrank. Concept and moderation: Daniela Agostinho, Nanna Bonde Thylstrup.