The Unreliable Archives

Memories are unreliable, ask my mother

In ‘The Unreliable Archives’, I am assembling a quirky collection of autobiographical, scientific and historical materials. What can grow from the crossovers between these materials? From interviews with family members and people from (post-)Apartheid South Africa in combination with insights from botany and geology, I distil polyphonic texts, artefacts, sounds and actions. What kind of de-composition can emerge from these gestures? How do we compost colonial ways of thinking? What does it mean to put down roots and find home?

The Unreliable Archives are open source, offline archives full of unreliable (collective) memories. I want to invite an audience to get their hands dirty, read, think, feel. What possible shifts and rituals of transformation can arise in these encounters.

Credits: Maker: Rona Kennedy / Current partners: WorkspaceBrussels, CAMPO, Mestizo Arts Platform, Rataplan, Voo?uit, ONBETAALBAAR / In artistic dialogue with Kopano Morago (dramaturge & coach), Sanne Van Rijn, Enrica Camporesi & Charlotte Peys (dialogue partners), Célia Fechas (performance), Bart van den Eynde, Sophie de Somere, Steven Brys. Saskia Louwaard & Katrijn Baetens (Scenography), Duraid Abbas Ghaieb (movement and rituals) / Supported within the framework of the post-experience Masters in Theatre (Direction and Scenography) at Toneelacademie Maastricht and with a short-term development grant within the Arts Decree of the Flemish Government.

Stanza – On Proximity. An artistic research by Enrica Camporesi, Rona Kennedy and Mestizo Arts Platform (Fiëbre vzw) with the support of Rataplan, The Flemish Community and the City of Antwerp