Publication of the 2021 Inward Outward Symposium

Inward Outward is an ongoing, iterative endeavour. The driving force behind the symposium series is the wish, and need, to critically engage with audiovisual archives of coloniality. This desire stems from the working practices of the organising team, with members who are employed (often) by institutions that have such collections under their ‘care’. The first edition of Inward Outward, held in January 2020, was fuelled by a determination to engage with bodies of ‘decolonial’ knowledge and addressed the creation, acquisition, management and use of these archives within and beyond the walls of established institutions.

This publication collects different contributions from the speakers of Inward Outward that reiterate and reflect on the presentations that took place during the symposium; they interrogate how we might situate ourselves in relation to the materials we work with, and the locations we work from. The essays gathered thus continue some of the significant conversation threads started at Sound and Vision, but are by no means exhaustive of the rich exchanges that took place during the event or in the days that followed.