In February we highlighted the films and videos of Yervant Gianikian and Angela Ricci Lucchi, Milan-based artists who draw on archival images for their lyrical examinations of history and image-making. With the series Retrieved Images, we continue to explore the recent work of contemporary artists who reclaim, recycle, and sometimes rescue archival and historical images, which they excavate in diverse ways. Some respond to the films' material quality, others to their content; all share a concern with retrieving these images from obscurity and exploring their histories. Some rework the images, some integrate them into larger pieces which include their own new footage, others allow the material to stand untouched. "Found footage" is rarely just found.
-Kathy Geritz
