About the Chicago Archives + Artists Project
Launched in 2017, the Chicago Archives + Artists Project (CA+AP) pairs artists with archives across Chicago to spark new experiments in creative interpretation, to showcase the rich histories and materials being preserved in participating archives, and to share archival practices with local artists and their communities. Over the years, the Project has taken many forms, such as artist talks, an exhibition, festivals, and our book, Chicago Archives + Artists Project: Case Studies in Collaboration. Although the project continues to be reimagined based on the needs of our community, it stays rooted in our grounding questions:
What do artists and archivists have to glean from each other’s philosophy, training, and creative process?
What role do artists have to play in taking action to preserve their communities’ histories?
How do archives shape artistic futures?
About Sixty Inches From Center
www.sixtyinchesfromcenter.org
@sixtyinchesfromcenter
Sixty Inches From Center is a worker-led organization and publishing platform that produces collaborative projects about artists, archival practice, art history, and culture in Chicago and the Midwest. We are a collective of arts workers, writers, editors, artists, curators, librarians, and archivists who promote and prioritize the preservation of culture within Indigenous, diasporic, queer, and disability communities of our region.
We believe that the stories of artists, cultural workers, archivists, organizers, memory workers, and writers within Indigenous, diasporic, queer, and disability communities are essential to understanding history and creating inclusive future canons that align with the more liberated and just worlds that reflect our dreams and realities. Our stories need to be preserved and promoted simultaneously, so we work with local and national archives while providing platforms and capsules for the cultural practices of our people.