By Rodrigo Diaz Guerrero
The academic journal Revista of the University of México, recently published an article by the anthropologist Roger Bartla, in which he discusses the concept of an exo-brain. The term refers to brain-like activity outside the human brain, and in a practical sense is artificial intelligence. Bartla claims that neurobiologist have tried to explain consciousness using only the biochemical processes that occur in the brain. However, he claims these processes are not sufficient to explain the existence of consciousness as we know it. Bartla has developed a hypothesis which states that only humans can enable consciousness to emerge. The tools for this are the human cultural and social networks in humans are immersed, and which he claims work in tandem with the biochemistry of the brain.
Following his line of thought, it appears that an exo-brain would be the equivalent of libraries, newspaper archives and general archives. I spoke with Sofía Rivas, who was director of the Kunsthaus Foundation until the first semester of 2022, and in charge of the digital format of the archives. Kunsthaus Santa Fe was founded in 1997 by Lothar Müller, a German artist and cultural promoter, with the intent of exhibiting emerging Latin American and international artists with new visual proposals. Kunsthaus operates from San Miguel de Allende, and is one of the most important contemporary art collections on the Bajio Region.
RDG: Why is an archive important, and how will a project like the Kunsthaus Archive benefit society?
SR: An archive is important because with it you can revisit history. Having records, allows those who consult them to return to the conditions that were part of their emergence; such as the media that produced them or the contexts of which they were part. It offers infinite number of possibilities. Either to increase the knowledge that society has about itself, as well as developing artistic projects, and safeguarding them based on primary and reliable sources.
RDG: What can we find in the archives?
SR: This contemporary art archive is made up of more than five thousand documents. Among these we can find books, photographs, newspaper publications, specialized magazines, invitations, emails, faxes, and notes by hand.
RDG: Can you share the three examples that you consider most relevant?
SR: The press part seems very interesting to me. On the one hand, there is everything related to Atención San Miguel and a magazine called Le Petit Journal. The latter was a very humorous and very bohemian publication that was in circulation around 2004 and 2005. Both bear witness to a San Miguel that is ceasing to exist because now everything pretends to be very “nice” and very chic. Other things that seem remarkable to me are the sketches or assembly guides. Getting to know the exhibitions from that perspective and apart from the list of works, allow us to imagine what they were like, and this seems invaluable to me.
RDG: What is your impression of the archive culture in Mexico and, specifically, in the Bajío?
SR: In Mexico we have great exponents of all types of archives. From the General Archive of the Nation to the Pinto mi Raya archive by Mónica Meyer and Víctor Lerma, passing through the Arkehia Documentation Center at the MUAC. But apart from that, in my short work from 2021 to date, I have come across just a couple more art archives and they are all supported by the personal interest of a private individual. Institutional support is greatly needed for its proper support and cataloguing.
Sofía Rivas has digitized a large part of the boxes that make up the archive. The selection is available for consultation, and is free to download on the site www.archivokunsthaus.com
