The launch of Unlocked Archive 18 December 2020

Unlocked Archive was launched on 18 December 2020, a digital exhibition in response to the Covid-19 pandemic by a community of asylum seekers, refugees and migrants. Our project gathers responses to the Covid-19 pandemic and situates them within the broader landscape of multiple crises – migration, systemic racism, climate change and austerity. This event was co-chaired by Ahmad Al-Rashid and Professor Marie Gillespie from The Open University.

The exhibition is a curated space – a living archive – containing images, films, audio soundings, drawings, playlists and testimonies which are presented in a series of rooms. Together, these inhabited spaces explore domestic, political and precarious environments through home, food, community, friendship, care, solidarity and love. The title of each room emerged through the process of growing and sharing our digital archive together. In this launch video, we will introduce the project and offer you a guided tour of the exhibition.

This project has been funded by The Open University.