Archival adventuring. (August 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Kagen, Melissa
• Other Names: Pentzold Christian guest-editor.; Kaun Anne guest-editor.; Lohmeier Christine guest-editor.
• Is Part Of: Convergence. Volume 26:Number 4(2020)
• Page Start: 1007
• Page End: 1020
• Publication Date: 2020-08
• Subjects: Archive -- immersion -- liveness -- queer -- videogame; Mass media -- Technological innovations -- Periodicals; Telecommunication -- Periodicals; Mass media and technology -- Periodicals; 621.3897
• DOI: 10.1177/1354856519847875
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1354-8565

Abstract

This article describes the 'archival adventure' mechanic, in which players assemble a story by piecing it together from the archival memorabilia left behind. I compare the use of this mechanic in immersive performances and videogames, analyzing Meow Wolf's House of Eternal Return (2016–present) and Giant Sparrow's What Remains of Edith Finch (2017) to argue that an archival adventure's sense of liveness is created by a player, who arrives not to complete an extant story but to confound it with the confusing messiness of life. I lay out the conundrum of the archival – a concept associated with both death and life, certainty and uncertainty, written record and ephemeral performance – and discuss how the archival adventure confounds and plays with these oppositions. Finally, I examine its gender dynamics to show how these works can fulfill the promise of queer and feminist archival poetics.