Janet : the shape of the hidden : collaborative video practice as research in a poetry archive

Abstract

This doctoral project was guided by curiosity aroused by a cursory note written in the margins of a poetry transcript. It is a speculative investigation into the potential significance of ephemeral material secreted within the administrative section of the Bloodaxe Archive. The methodological development of the research has been iterative. It was developed through the production of collage-like video pieces that incorporate documentary-style video footage, drawing and photography, as well as spoken word, poetry and sound. The project’s eventual collaborative and cross-disciplinary approach unfolded through initial observational work in the archive. The research suggests that the composite, transferable and potentially ‘ever unfinished’1 nature of video is a useful parallel to the idea of the contemporary archive as shifting and fragmentary. The written thesis that accompanies the creative work disseminates my utilisation of video making as a contemporary tool of archival research. The text also acknowledges embodied and ephemeral ‘technologies’ associated with collaboration - such as conversation and gesture - as key parts of the research methodology. My search for Janet within the ephemeral materiality of the archive was a re-imagining of the archive as a space for speculation rather than a source of truths. Ideas gathered together in this thesis address the use of archive ephemera as a starting point for association, invention and autobiographical reflection.