The digital "Attic Archive"

Curating the Digital Attic Archive, a two-year Research Network Award project funded by the Royal Society of Edinburgh explores the work and legacy of the Attic Archive within a framework of international collaboration. Part of the Attic Archive, referred to as DATA (Daily Action Time Archive), was launched in 1980, and now comprises part of the Artpool Collection.

Founded in Dundee, Scotland, by artist Pete Horobin in 1975, the Attic Archive grew out of four separate, ten-year-long self-historicisation projects, reflecting on the changing social and cultural conditions of the 1970s-2020s within which the artist operated. 

As the archive is now dispersed across Scotland, Hungary and Ireland, the project seeks to bring together archivists and curators from key collections to test the possibility of establishing a shared online, open-source platform. Functioning as an archival/curatorial space where the historical threads of the Attic Archive can be traced back, the platform will make possible the future research and dissemination of this continually relevant body of work.

Led by Dr Judit Bodor (Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design, University of Dundee) and Dr Roddy Hunter (School of Fine Art, The Glasgow School of Art), the project will be developed over two years in collaboration with the artist (Pete Horobin) as consultant, as well as archivists and curators entrusted with the care of different parts of the Archive at various institutions (University of Dundee Archives; National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh; Artpool Art Research Center, Budapest, and National Irish Visual Arts Library, Dublin).

The story of moving the DATA collection from Dundee to Budapest, entitled “From A to A - New Directions”, can be found here. Pete Horobin was actively involved in arranging the documents and works donated to Artpool, as well as in refining the lists during his visits to Budapest in 2010, 2012 and 2019.