Founded as a repository for the records of Aljira, a Center for Contemporary Art (1983–2018)—a model of creative excellence and cosmopolitan community in the visual arts—the work of the Archive aligns with activists rethinking the politics of the archive as an active process of making history. The Aljira Archive Project preserves the spirit of Aljira by fostering projects that order and present its past through diverse formats and original documents.
A Dream In Four Acts, a full-length documentary currently under development, is the first research project of The Aljira Archive Project: It will tell the story of the challenges of Aljira, a Center for Contemporary Art, to remain relevant and sustain its programs over three decades. Other related initiatives of The Aljira Archive Project, underway or planned, are a robust oral history, a major exhibition, a catalog and public activations that celebrate Aljira’s values and challenges us to build on its groundbreaking legacy.