Barry Flanagan: From Soft to Hard and Back Again

What materials should archives of contemporary art and artists collect and preserve? How far, and in what way, should their archiving be developed? How should they utilize diverse resources to create new values and meanings?

Answering these questions is crucial to understanding and extending the potential of archives in contemporary art. An archive is more than just a refuge for historical documents. Its formation should focus on developing a platform for making materials accessible to wider public, for thriving innovate minds in scholarly research and for engendering a range of creative practices. It is also important to consider how an archive can invigorate itself through archiving.

50th Anniversary International Symposium of Overseas Study Program for Upcoming Artists by Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan.

Contains working documents, research, photographs, audio recordings and interviews with Anzai and Minemura. Dr Jo Melvin was invited by the agency of cultural affairs, Japan to take part in the symposium Supporting Contemporary Japanese Art: Future and Legacy, 13th & 14th January at the National Art Centre and Keio University, Mita Campus. In which she highlighted the work of Flanagan with reference, [among other events] to the 9th and 10th Tokyo Biennial.