During this year’s Archive Day on 18 June, NADD explored the deep interconnectedness of craftsmanship and archival processes. Examined was how craft, archiving, remembrance and resistance converge in contemporary creative and archival practices. The focus was be on the creators of archives and the crafts they document, preserve and reinterpret.
Crafts are often based on years of experience and practical knowledge passed down through the generations. This challenges conventional archival practices, while simultaneously raising questions about preservation, authorship, labour and cultural memory in artisanal traditions.
There were interactive presentations, workshops, show-and-tells and performances. Together exploring questions such as: What is the difference between design and craft? How are craft and cultural identity connected? In what ways are contemporary designers reinterpreting tradition? And, perhaps most importantly, how can craft practices be archived?
All Work is Women’s Work
This presentation explored how multi-modal creative practice can transform archival research into a dynamic site of feminist knowledge production. Focusing on the forgotten history of De Naaistersbond (the Seamstresses’ Union), one of the Netherlands’ first all-female labour unions, in early 20th-century Amsterdam, it considers how we might critically and materially republish the archive to bring forgotten histories to life for contemporary activism.
Dogtroep Archives
Dogtroep was a collective of artists, makers and technicians based in Amsterdam who influenced the theatre in the Netherlands and beyond. They were renowned for their experimental, large-scale, site-specific performances, as well as their handcrafted costumes and props. Drawing on a vast private archive of analogue photographs, sketches, publications and moving images, Tula Zandvliet and designer Julia van der Veen have breathed new life into the material by translating archival forms and techniques into costume designs and a publication that celebrate craftsmanship, creativity and innovation.
How Craft knowledge shapes creative AI
In this participatory lecture, Siddhi Gupta invited the audience to envision an ‘archive of the future’ that redefines the role of craftspeople as knowledge holders, exploring how their practices can inform our interactions with Creative AI. The lecture engaged with three case studies of craft practices in India, examining how these practices have shaped technological thinking.
Photography: Sabine van Nistelrooij
