A perspective corner view of the ground floor of Crossett Library, with light coming in a wall of windows to the right, facing an library installation - white text on the left wall, painted gray, reads “publication as public action,” translucent text on the windows, which are framed in yellow, reads “Archive + Access,” a line of books on display stands flank the windows along a low shelf.

ARCHIVE + ACCESS | PUBLICATION as PUBLIC ACTION

Elæ Moss's ongoing PUBLICATION as PUBLIC ACTION project considers the print:document (and its adjacent virtual and multimedia variants) as a vital human tool for future-history building, inviting local and regional publics into conversation around intentional documentation and dissemination and personal and collective intelligence. It implements a set of tools and protocols making up the larger ARCHIVE + ACCESS-facing framework, within which The Operating System + Liminal Lab Open Access Publication and Peer Learning Project and Platform were built. 

For the PUBLICATION AS PUBLIC ACTION: ARCHIVE + ACCESS installation in Crossett Library at Bennington College, a corner of the library is reimagined as a dynamic space for engagement with the possibility of autonomous documentation, drawing the eye upon approach with bright pops of color, human, and field material collaboration.

During its active library installation from 2023–2024, intervention is invited across numerous temporalities: from short visits exploring the display-only volumes, extended borrowing of titles and materials in circulation, to the use of on-site prompts for non-linear bibliomancy, as well as invitational materials for DIY publication.

Students and other community members involved in workshops and Field Actions—from pop-ups through semester long courses—are invited to learn and implement the ARCHIVE + ACCESS protocols, creating Field Materials, publications, guides, tools, and library / reading room collections of their own. In addition to the sample source materials from The Operating System catalog (demonstrating the approach's use across over a hundred print and digital publications), these community-made materials and resources become part of a permanent PUBLICATION as PUBLIC ACTION library collection, to be available and accessible both in Crossett's stacks and collected / archived in public perpetuity through Library Guides. 

Upcoming public programming will be announced through the Spring 2024 semester, including an event celebrating the original publications and materials produced by F23 ARCHIVE + ACCESS: PUBLICATION, PEDAGOGY, and MUTUAL AID as PUBLIC ACTION workshop participants. 

Please visit Moss's You Tube channel for access to a playlist of ARCHIVE + ACCESS | IN CONVERSATION videos with invited guests.