The workshop started by introducing the new activists to what archives and archive work are. This introduction also included an overview of how far we have come with this project over the past two years.

As an example of what an archive might look like, participants were asked to take items from their wallets that they valued, display them and tell others why they valued them. This exercise introduced the need to store, preserve, classify and organise physical material for ourselves and others.

The Women in Exile Archive is an ongoing exercise and there are five steps that need to be covered. It is important to think about the future audience, the stories and the history to be shared. For metadata information (description of the photo, when, who and where it was taken) is needed.

The first steps have already been covered as there is already an Excel document. Some documents have already been scanned, named and stored. There is a possibility of exhibiting some of the work at the Friedrichshain / Kreuzberg Museum early next year. The process of this exhibition will be part of the archiving work.

The next step is contextualisation, and this is the next topic to be addressed in the next workshop, which will take place on 28/01/2025. The following steps are also important to consider when thinking about the exhibition. Consider that the map is not the territory:

Objectives: – What is the purpose of this archive?

– What is the objective I seek to achieve with this organisation of documents?

Relevance: – Why is it important to create this archive?

– Why are we doing this work?

Projection: – How do you imagine this archive?

– What would you like to archive?

Users: – For whom are we creating this archive?

– How would you like the achieve to be used?

Resources: – What resources do we have?

Time: – What is the time frame?

Format: – Digital, physical or hybrid?