Art, archives and shifting objectivities : the plurality of knowledges and the work of David Wojnarowicz and Minna Henriksson

Abstract

This thesis looks at the production of knowledge and the myth of objectivity. Its starting points are the practices and thinking around archival knowledge. What kinds of knowledges can emerge through artistic practice? How is the archive activated to its subversive potential so other histories may emerge? By considering the places and materiality of the archive and art, this enquiry looks at their means in bringing about hidden and subjugated knowledges.

The thesis introduces the historical practice of David Wojnarowicz and the contemporary practice of Minna Henriksson as examples of artistic work surfacing knowledges that expand and dissolve historical narratives and counter the technocratisation of societies and our beings.

It considers the blurring of the boundaries of scientific research and art in order to advance individual agency and societal change. Feminist theorisation supports shifting standpoints in scientific research and dialogue across disciplines. The new materialist thinking of Donna Haraway and Karen Barad encapsulate the complexities behind objectivity, research and knowledge, serving as an ethos for this enquiry. It explores thinking that enables us to move from dichotomies and simplifications towards the sciences and politics of interpretation, translation, stuttering, and the partly understood, as Haraway has put it.