Residue is an ongoing project that documents examples of anarchival materiality in archives. Chemical reactions, mould, rot, and other proximal interactions render archival materials as fugitives––eluding preservation, and anarchival––marked for destruction. Proximal Interactions was created at the British Columbia Provincial Archives and is shown as a two-channel video projection. On the left, gloved hands layer four-colour separations documenting bureaucratic structures. The action of layering imitates the ephemerality of colour in film and photography archives where deterioration of acetate and nitrate negatives and colour fading challenge and shape archival ordering. On the right, the order of the archive is re-worked through the formal properties of ruby-lith (a masking film used in orthochromatic printing as a way to block information), and the gooeyness of deteriorating acetate negatives.

Proximal Interactions acknowledges and visualizes the agency of anarchival materiality, where the order and structure of human-made archives are challenged by the lively anarchy of the materials themselves. Classification systems, spatial organization, and human responsibilities and actions are all fundamentally reshaped and determined by the uncooperative residents of archives, who constantly remind their stewards of the transformative, organic, passing of time, and the collusion of natural processes in undermining the human desire for stability and persistence.