Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship 2020
The Archives of American Art, Washington DC
In Fast Obsolescence, Vesna Pavlović explores the themes of technological and material obsolescence of photographic and film media while considering two archives at the Smithsonian: Hildreth Meière papers, 1901-2011, bulk 1911-1960, at the Archives of American Art, and Hal Linker Film and Video Collection, ca. 1955-1985, at the Human Studies Film Archive, housed in the National Anthropological Archive. Archival research is a starting point to consider cultural significance of these archival sources, and use them as materials for visual translation.
At a time when historical and technological obsolescence is accelerating, revisiting obsolete media provides a context for understanding the new media landscape and the position archives have in the shaping of cinema and media history. The study and analysis proposed will emphasize female perspectives through exploring materiality and representation in Hildreth Meière’s photographs and films and Halla Linker’s travelogues. Both archives provide an opportunity to expand Pavlović’s ongoing work with historical archives. Her photography challenges the conditions of the overwhelming presence of images in our culture by exploring institutional archives, often suspended, forgotten, and in danger of disappearance.
Scale drawing for Traveler's Insurance Company mural, ca. 1956. Hildreth Meière papers, 1901-2011. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.