Tending the Unfinished

Towards Non-Extractive Practices with Fermentation and Moving Archives

Authors

  • anna andrejew Author
  • Floris Janssens Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.37522/evpbhh38

Keywords:

fermentation, anarchive, non-extractive practices, extractivism, archive, relational knowledge, care, transformation, process-based research, countermapping, landscapes, morethan- human, food, recipe

Abstract

We explore fermentation as both a method and a metaphor for rethinking archives through non-extractive, relational practices. Our collaboration brings together artistic research, archival theory, and food practices, with methods ranging from countermapping and papermaking to shared meals and speculative writing. We work with the concept of the anarchive to activate knowledge instead of fixing it, emphasising care, unpredictability, and more-than-human collaboration. As artists, we treat making as a form of research—slow, embodied, and attentive to transformation, vulnerability, and unfinishedness. In doing so, we propose a counter-recipe for unstable futures: a speculative, process-based practice that resists extraction and makes space for emergence.

Author Biographies

  • anna andrejew

    anna andrejew (she/her) is an artist-researcher with a background in ethnography and permaculture. Her work explores the physical, emotional, and material dimensions of space—particularly liminal or undefined areas that resist fixed or singular interpretations. Drawing on her exile heritage and material research, she traces the impacts of extraction and capitalist disruption, opening pathways for reimagining more-than-human, relational temporalities. Her interdisciplinary practice spans countermapping, cameraless photography, performance, workshops, and writing. She is a guest lecturer at the Faculty of Architecture and Arts at Hasselt University. Recent projects include Be Like Water (Dutch Research Council-funded), The Memory of Matter (ACPA/ KABK), Counter-Mapping the Garden (West, The Hague), and the publication The First Impression on Your Skin (2024)

  • Floris Janssens

    Floris Janssens (he/him) is an archival specialist at the Dutch National Archives, with a background in macrobiotics and literary studies. He is fascinated by what appears dead but is, in fact, alive—ferments, archives, and the digital afterlife—and explores how these liminal forms of life intersect with memory, culture, and knowledge. He researches non-conventional approaches and models for archiving, emphasising post-custodialism, cultural memory, and more-thanhuman storytelling. In his artistic practice, Floris uses food as a lens to investigate interwoven themes of memory, politics, and mental health. Through participatory cooking sessions and curated events, he creates spaces that foster (food) sovereignty and community connection. The joint preparation of food becomes a metaphor for rethinking time, hierarchy, and productivity within a capitalist society. He recently contributed to the Non-Linear Narrative programme at the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague (KABK), in collaboration with the Dutch National Archives. His recent project, The Anti-Class Ferments, is part of the Anti-Class residency and a curated series of community events at B32 (Maastricht).

he Anti-Class Ferments, installation view at Artspace B32 in Maastricht.

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Published

2025-12-11

Issue

Vol. 2 (2025): Extending the Echoes: Ways with Documentation for Artists Doing Research

Section

Articles