Between Memory and Documentation

Journaling as an Archive of Lingering Knowledge

Abstract

In this article, I reflect on the interplay between memory and documentation within my artistic research practice as a composer. I explore how my memory functions as a parallel "living archive" that co-exists with my written journals, often leading to productive dissonances and revealing what I call "lingering knowledge." Using excerpts from my own journals as artifacts, I show how my practice has become an active exploration of the archive itself, where I stay with the disagreements between the remembered and the recorded to generate new insights. Through a case study of my collaboration with Sámi yoiker Anna Näkkäläjärvi-Länsman, I further investigate the limitations of conventional documentation for embodied traditions like luohti. Ultimately, I offer a methodological orientation that values the provisional and non-linear ways artistic knowledge unfolds, treating memory, intuition, and even forgetting as vital parts of the research process.