CDS to Host New DocX Archive Lab; Applications Now Open

The Center for Documentary Studies’ DocX initiative is intended to evolve as the practice of documentary evolves, driven by what documentary artists need to make their work most resonant in the world. 

Following a pilot phase (2015–2020), DocX is entering its next stage of evolution: to support BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, people of color) artists and thought leaders working across the nonfiction landscape. To reimagine what documentary work looks and sounds like, DocX nurtures the imaginative exploration and questioning of artists and curators of color who boldly interrogate form and ways of collaborating.

In September 2021, the initiative will present the first project in its new iteration under DocX director Stephanie Owens, the virtually hosted DocX Archive Lab, How Are We Known?: Reimagining, Repurposing, and Rewriting the Archive.  

Historically, the authorship of society’s archival memory of BIPOC life has been fixed within, for, and by the colonial and white gaze. As makers, the archives in which we explore and from which we pull are oftentimes rooted in extractive practices. The DocX Archive Lab will be a space for BIPOC artists to invest deeply in their work and to be in communion with these questions: How will we be remembered, how do we want to be remembered, and who will remember us? Once we wrest the power to author our own stories, who will we speak to? 

Over eight months, six selected fellows across documentary practices will be given space to explore, pose questions, and create with Lead Artist Facilitator Nyssa Chow (oral historian, writer, and interdisciplinary artist), Lead Artist Lab Collaborator Martine Granby (nonfiction filmmaker, Assistant Professor of Documentary Journalism at the University of Connecticut), and several guest artists.

Applications accepted July 14–August 16, 2021, for the Center for Documentary Studies’ virtual DocX Archive Lab. More Information | How to Apply | FAQs