Building Black Cultural Infrastructure in Real Time
From Studio to Archive is a public, year-long effort to build Black cultural infrastructure. There are several ways to participate in and sustain this work:
About
From Studio to Archive:
Building Black Cultural Infrastructure in Real Time
ART | library deco announces From Studio to Archive, a year-long, durational live exhibition inaugurating on March 3, 2026, from 11:00 AM–1:00 PM (CST). Streaming live on Tuesdays and Thursdays at the same time throughout the year—with additional sessions occurring periodically—this exhibition documents the transformation of the ART | library deco studio into the archival foundation for a future library space in Texas.
More than a series of broadcasts, From Studio to Archive is an act of institutional formation. Grounded in BGLAM (Black Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums) praxis and the development of a Black-Centered Information Ecology, the project situates archival construction as cultural infrastructure work. It makes visible the labor often hidden from public view: sorting, appraisal, arrangement, spatial reconfiguration, documentation, and the ethical discernment that shapes preservation.
Archival practice within this exhibition is not presented as neutral procedure, but as interpretive and epistemic engagement. Within a Black-Centered Information Ecology, materials are understood as living carriers of memory, creative production, and collective continuity. Each decision reflects care, refusal, accountability, and a commitment to Black self-determined knowledge systems.
Rather than unveiling a completed repository, From Studio to Archive invites the public to participate in the process. The exhibition unfolds gradually, allowing viewers to witness the shaping of space, the reclassification of materials, and the deliberate construction of a future-facing archive grounded in autonomy and stewardship. The live format underscores that archives are not static storage sites—they are active ecologies built over time through sustained labor and imagination.
Over the course of a year, this durational work reframes archival formation as visible, relational, and infrastructural. It is a studio in transition, a repository in emergence, and a declaration that Black cultural memory warrants intentional space, discipline, and care.
We invite you to witness this unfolding act of preservation and institutional imagination.
How to Get Involved & Support
From Studio to Archive is a public, year-long act of building Black cultural infrastructure. There are several ways to participate in and sustain this work:
Attend the Live Streams
Join us Tuesdays and Thursdays from 11:00 AM–1:00 PM (CST) beginning March 3, 2026. Your presence matters. Witnessing the process affirms that archival labor is communal, not solitary.
Engage the Process
Share reflections, circulate the exhibition within your networks, and integrate the series into classrooms, research, and cultural conversations. Archival formation thrives within dialogue and exchange.
Contribute to the Archive
If you are a cultural worker, artist, scholar, or community member interested in future collaboration, reach out to explore alignment with ART | library deco’s developing archival vision.
Provide Financial Support
ART | library deco welcomes collaboration, volunteer engagement within its physical studio space in Texas, and philanthropic investment in From Studio to Archive as part of its long-term commitment to building sustainable Black cultural infrastructure. Support—whether through institutional partnership, on-site archival assistance, or financial contribution—advances preservation materials, documentation systems, spatial development, and public programming while strengthening the formation of a Black-centered information ecology rooted in BGLAM practice. Institutions, foundations, cultural partners, volunteers, and donors are invited to participate in the continued growth and stewardship of this evolving archive.
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