Exquisite Archive

video, 2022 (2 min 25 seconds)

Exquisite Archive was made by artists Annis Joslin and Seo Hye Lee when they were commissioned to develop workshops, videos and objects inspired by the Film & Media Collections of Royal Pavilion & Museums Trust and Screen Archive South East for Days of Wonder at Hove Museum and Art Gallery in March 2022.

Annis and Seo Hye are based on opposite sides of the UK, and their collaboration began during the uncertain times of Covid-19, when they began to find ways to test out ideas remotely by exchanging a series of videos via WhatsApp.

Inspired by the inventiveness and playfulness of the Hove’s early film pioneers, Exquisite Archive is based on both the game of consequences and exquisite corpse, but using video — starting with an early silent film clip prompt, one makes a response then sends only the last second to the other via WhatsApp who then repeats the process and vice versa (with a new silent film clip prompt added at different points).