Unlike trees or their roots, the rhizome connects any point to any other point, and its traits are not necessarily linked to traits of the same nature; it brings into play very different regimes of signs, and even nonsign states. The rhizome […] has neither beginning nor end, but always a middle (milieu) from which it grows and which it overspills.

– Gilles Deleuze & Félix Guattari, A Thousand Plateaus

The Society of Affective Archives is a collective entity dedicated to artistic collaboration, the production of affective archives, and the preservation of peripheral knowledge. Inspired by the image of the rhizome, a form wherein multiple paths converge and divide in a continual process of transformation, the collective draws upon the principles of experimentation and creative encounters. Animated by the collection and safeguarding of that which lies on the cusp of disappearing or at the margins of consciousness, the Society is a romantic conceptual exploration conceived by its founding members, Fiona Annis and Véronique La Perrière M Since 2010, they have jointly explored the territory of research and creation in the visual arts.

With collaboration at the heart of its mandate, The Society of Affective Archives seeks to foster encounters between different disciplines, cultures, and epochs. With an approach that embraces diverse modes of research, the collective pursues the creation of artworks, or affective archives, that resonate with past, present, and future generations. Thus, the “affective” archive is proposed as a prism for the imagination and a means of envisioning both the past and the future.

With an approach that reflects a sustained interest in the organic world, technical know-how and the handmade, the Society explores the media of public art, sculpture, artist books, film and performance. Notable projects of the Society include the acquisition of a sculptural installation by the Museum of Civilization of Quebec City, as well as the realization of several permanent public artworks including a sculpture for the Tiohtià:ke Otsira’kéhne park in Montreal, a multimedia installation for the library of the University of Montreal Health Centre (CHUM), and a bronze monument to the nursing profession in the heart of Montreal.