We Can (Not) Work It Out: A Curatorial Inquiry into the Danish Radio Archive

My PhD project inquires into the Danish Radio Archive through the commission of two artists, Kajsa Dahlberg and Olof Olsson, who I – in the early stages of my PhD – charged with producing artworks in relation to the archive. This practical component of the project was concluded with a solo exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Roskilde (Dahlberg) and a performance tour (Olsson), both of which I curated. In the thesis, I examine and develop the act of commissioning as a mode of inquiry, and I analyse and speculate on the possible meanings that Dahlberg and Olsson’s work enable me to advance with regard to the archive. I am, in other words, proposing a way to conduct research through curating; a process that engenders me to reinvigorate the notion of curatorial care by modelling it on Derrida’s understanding of the supplement.