Since 2018 Bryan Reedy and I have been having an ongoing dialogue about ephemeral practices and archives.
In 2016, I received a grant from the Art360 foundation to start archiving my performance work and Bryan helped digitise my analogue work. During this process I began to look for a database to host my archives. I was disappointed to find that the models available were expensive, focused on the art object and sales, and didn’t provide me with what I needed.
During this time Bryan built a prototype database to organise my work. Bryan is currently developing a specification for a more widely accessible, desktop version of the original web-based database.
HAND encompasses ongoing research towards the creation of collaborative, open source archiving software for artists that aims to provide a digital archiving environment that does not privilege the art object and financial provenance over more ephemeral works and the social context that surrounds creative production. The first phase of HAND was developed by Bryan Reedy and Hayley Newman through discussions with artists, archivists, librarians, conservationists and people working in the cultural sector.