Forging Folklore, Disrupting Archives: Curatorial Explorations between Tradition and Innovation

Abstract

This article describes how artists, scholars and curators have used folkloric collections and exhibitions as tools to explore the relationship between tradition and innovation. Contemporary art practice has seen a growing interest toward the use of folkloric material. With this in mind, in our curatorial work on the Forging Folklore, Disrupting Archives exhibition, we experiment with new methods of ethnographic representation. The article highlights the importance of animating folkloric and traditional objects through experimentation with collaborative, participatory and visual approaches.

Keywords

• curating
• ethnography
• folklore
• creativity
• archive
• united kingdom