Anne-Marie Duguet's Anarchive Collection: Five Artists, Five Digital Archives

Since 1995, Anne-Marie Duguet has curated five editions of her Anarchive collection, focusing on Antoni Muntadas, Michael Snow, Thierry Kuntzel, Jean Otth, and most recently Fujiko Nakaya. The project reimagines artist archives as interactive digital databases, prioritizing process over final works. Duguet selects artists based on personal resonance with their video and installation practices, requiring deep trust and years of collaboration. The Nakaya edition draws from her personal papers, drawings, technical schematics, and video works, including documentation of her 1970 Pepsi Pavilion fog sculpture at the Osaka World Expo, created with engineer Thomas Mee and Experiments in Art and Technology (EAT). Each anarchive features a custom interface designed with the artist—Muntadas proposed a hybrid space, Snow chose a film excerpt. The term 'anarchive' plays on 'an archive' and 'ana' (Greek for 'backward'), signifying a dynamic, nonlinear approach. Duguet sees the collection as a record of key attitudes in contemporary art, not a systematic history. A planned Nam June Paik anarchive was halted after four years of work, which Duguet calls 'scandalous' and a 'betrayal' of the artist's wishes. The next project involves Masaki Fujihata, with hopes for a meta-anarchive linking all five artists through an exhibition.