Masters of ArtAt a lecture presented in London on June 5, 1994, Jacques Derrida discussed the complexities of
the meaning of the archive. He described the duality in meaning of the word archive-in terms of
temporality and spatiality-as a place of "commencement" and as the place "where men and gods
command" or the ''place from which order is given".
As the place of commencement, "there where things commence" the archive is more
ambivalent. It houses, what could best be described as 'traces" of particular objects of the past in
the form of documents. These documents were produced in the past and are subjective
constructions with their own histories of negotiations and contestations. As such, the archive
represents the end of instability, or the outcome of negotiations and contestations over
knowledge. Yet as sources of evidence the archive also represents the moment of ending
instability, of creating stasis and the fixing of meaning and knowledge
