Matchmaking in the Archive

An odd book that explores an evolving art piece in which the author matched other artists with people whose lives had been included in the archives of an LGBTQ society. The idea for the piece—matchmaking and creating queer lineages—is great. But the book focuses relentlessly on the author’s experiences of creating the project rather than the artists’ experiences of making the art, or even conveying those installations so that the reader can experience them. The third part with invited essays from Katz, Tea, and Vargas was great—smart and beautifully written. If you’re a GLAMs person, this can open up lots of thoughts both about how we as researchers and we as institutional workers could create opportunities for public and creative work with our collections.