Symposium explores fiction in archival practice
'Fiction(s) in Archives' runs alongside the exhibition 'Two Moons and Two Suns'
On July 4-5, the Malta Society of Arts will host the symposium Fiction(s) in Archives, a two-day programme of discussions, presentations and performance lectures exploring the intersection of fiction and archival practice. The symposium runs alongside the exhibition Two Moons and Two Suns, presented by the Fictive Archive Investigations (FAI) collective.
Convened by Claire Ducène and Margerita Pulè, the symposium brings together artists, researchers and archivists to consider the archive not just as a repository of facts, but as a space where narratives – real or imagined – are constructed and contested. Discussions will centre around how archives are interpreted, reconfigured or fabricated through artistic and research-based practice.
The first day includes panels on institutional approaches to the archive and the role of digitisation in shaping cultural memory, followed by a discussion on “messy archives” as a method of engaging with suppressed or fragmented queer histories.
The second day features a guided tour of the exhibition and a series of performance lectures investigating themes such as the logic of inventories, the tourist gaze and natural formations like caves as archival spaces.
The event is supported by Arts Council Malta, Wallonie-Bruxelles International, and the Ministry for Finance of Malta. It invites the public and professionals alike to reflect on the archive not as a static collection, but as a dynamic and often subjective narrative tool.
Fiction(s) in Archives will take place at Palazzo de la Salle in Valletta from July 4-5, with Two Moons and Two Suns running from July 3 to August 20.