Unlearning Imperialism in the Gallery: Diasporic Reanimation of Art and Archives

This article explores three case studies to examine performative strategies by diasporic artists in relation to different types of collections: a contemporary art museum, the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, and the BFI National Film Archives, as well as a photographic installation by Akram Zaatari. The main case studies are: the Walker's repurposing of an artwork in their collection, Carey Young’s Declared Void ll (2013), as a performance platform for local artists’ performances as part of an events programme called Citizenship: Filling the void. My other main case study is Specialised Technique (2018), a film by artist filmmaker Onyeka Igwe in which she materially interrogates one of the technologies of imperial and colonial rule discussed by Ariella Aisha Azoulay in her book Unlearning Imperialism, i.e. the archive. The main thesis of this article that that the case studies evidence artistic forms of co-citizenship akin to that called for by Azoulay. Co-citizenship overrides the legal boundaries between who is included and excluded in governmental citizenship. Azoulay's notion of rehearsals of sovereign co-existence is proffered in my analysis as a form of imaginary co-citizenship that is performed in diasporic self-styling methodologies in artistic practices.