COURTESY THE COLLECTION OF TRIPLE CANOPY
On Monday, NYU’s Fales and Special Collection Library announced that it will acquire the archives of the young literary and art publication Triple Canopy. Birthed in 2007, the nonprofit magazine maintains an entirely online existence, with the exception of a handful of printed anthologies. With the acquisition, Fales will use its computer storage to make room for the group’s files and will continue to add new issues as they roll in.
The list of staffers, editors, and contributors to Triple Canopy is filled with the names of esteemed artists (including Sarah Crowner and Nick Mauss), professors, and curators. In 2014, the magazine presented a mini-exhibition titled “Pointing Machines” at the Whitney Museum’s Biennial, which according to the museum’s website explored “how the meaning of artworks shifts as they are commissioned, made, collected, disowned, replicated, photographed, exhibited, and published.”
Marvin J. Taylor, who directs Fales, said in a statement, “The partnership urges both organizations to rethink what archiving looks like in the digital world…working together, we will be creating new ways of preserving born-digital artistic production.”
Triple Canopy decided to proceed with the archival process in order to protect its collection from the dangers of leaving digital files unmanaged. In a recent statement, they explained: “Digital environmental, retroactive archiving risks an unacceptable (and ultimately insurmountable) loss of information.”
The magazine’s expansive collection of prose, poetry, art, videos of performances and discussions will ultimately be available at the library for both research and exhibition.