Denmark Anarchives

“Multum, non multa.” - Denmark

While archives may appear neutral, they are rarely innocent. The word ‘archive’ derives from the Greek arkhˉe, which means ‘power’ or ‘domination’. As repositories of documents which affirm power constellations or substantiate historical structures or reconstructions, archives provide tools to legitimise a state of affairs.

Yet archives also contain, through hidden stories and information, the potential for change and criticism. It is no coincidence that various artists have used archives as physical materials or recast archival work as a form of artistic expression. The Belgian artist Denmark happens to do both. By deconstructing and transforming bearers of information, Denmark questions power and knowledge as represented by information stacked in archives. As such, he deserves the label of ‘anarchivist’. The ideas of rereading and recycling are both central to Denmark’s work. In looking for the essence (his motto is Multum, non multa — ‘less is more’), Denmark developed a unique artistic approach that would gradually include print media such as books, newspapers and magazines and folding, screwing and sanding them, gluing them together, freezing them, and preserving them in water, gelatine or paraffin.

In doing so, he is targeting not only the media industry but also the art world, and in that sense his work echoes the institutional critique prevalent in the 1970s. Denmark witnessed first-hand how contemporary art magazines, which were founded during the revolutionary late 1960s and early 1970s, evolved from critical media outlets which played a democratising role, into slick advertising platforms, funded by galleries, forming crucial links in the art market.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Binding HARDCOVER

Measurements 240 x 170 mm

Weight 1,17 kg

Language NL / EN / FR

Number of pages 464

€ 72,00 - ISBN 9789464002188