Archive
Our archive focuses on social struggles, radical art, and acts of resistance from the 1960s to the present: it contains everything from recent feminist poetry to 1990s techno paraphernalia, from situationist magazines to histories of riots and industrial transformations, from 1970s educational experiments to prison writing.
We proceed from the understanding that social change can happen most effectively when marginalised and oppressed groups can get to know – and tell – their own histories “from below.” Our archival collections challenge the widespread assault on collective memory and the tradition of the oppressed. We aim to counter narratives of historical inevitability and political pessimism with living proof that that many struggles continue.
How can I access the archive?
We are open Wednesday – Friday between 11am-6pm.
To book an appointment please email in-formation@maydayrooms.org
You can access our online catalogue here and our digital archive collections here. These do not represent the whole of our collection so if you are looking for something that you can’t find drop us an email at in-formation@maydayrooms.org
Whats in the archive?
Our archive focuses on social struggles, radical art, and acts of resistance from the 1960s to the present: it contains everything from recent feminist poetry to 1990s techno paraphernalia, from situationist magazines to histories of riots and industrial transformations, from 1970s educational experiments to prison writing.
Do you have material that needs an archival home?
We are actively collecting materials from people who have been involved in past (and present) social movements, actions and interventions, attempts to transform the world, or fights against the powerful. So if you have any historical materials you would be interested in depositing in the archive, or if you are interested in booking rooms for meetings or organising events, please get in touch at in-formation [AT] maydayrooms.org.
What is 'activation'?
The core work of MayDay Rooms is to activate radical and experimental historical material, primarily through collaborative education, our public programme, informal research, digitisation and online distribution.
Through this MDR aims to create dynamic situations – not to sit passively on archival ‘holdings’. By using the intrinsic socialising potential of historical material, we hope to allow the latencies of the past and the future to meet in an open field beyond the enclosures of official knowledge. What happens in that field cannot be predicted; it is up to those who gather around material to set it resonating.
One important condition for our work is that it occurs in the context of the life experiences of donors; their historical reflection and collective liaison with the many individuals and groups passing through MDR. Therefore, MDR invites depositors and participants alike to consider critically the archives entrusted to us – be that publicly, in events, or more privately, in informal sessions. This can open up unforeseen avenues, and singular areas of experience.
How can I get invovled?
If you would like to further get involved at Mayday Rooms we welcome collaborations with like-minded projects and encourage critical as well as creative engagement with our archival material in relation to ongoing political and cultural struggles. So if you have an ideas for a project, intervention, publication, interruption, exhibition, event or anything else we might not have thought of, please get in touch please email in-formation [AT] maydayrooms.org.
