The Artidex is a physical archive of contemporary artists dedicated to preserving the stories behind their creative journeys by capturing singular moments in their evolution through Polaroid portraiture, conversations, and short films.
WHAT IS THE ARTIDEX?
At the center of The Artidex archive is a binder of original signed Polaroids.
Each artist selects and signs one portrait to become their “official” numbered entry. These portraits are placed together, in order, inside a single binder that can be held, viewed, and carried forward as a complete historical object. The current album is in the process of being converted into a custom-made archival bound book designed specifically for the collection.
Every additional Polaroid taken during each session is also retained, cataloged, and stored as part of the broader archive. As the collection grows, we are investing in archival-quality sleeves, protective enclosures, and specialized storage materials with the goal of achieving museum-level preservation standards.
Together, the album and its supporting collection create a tangible record of the people, ideas, and creative practices shaping contemporary culture.
We live in a time when nearly every photograph, conversation, and creative work exists digitally. While digital platforms allow stories to travel farther than ever before, they are also inherently temporary. Platforms evolve, websites disappear, files become inaccessible, and the way we experience history constantly changes.
The Artidex was intentionally designed to create something physical that can withstand the test of time and outlast those inevitable changes. Each artist selects and signs a single Polaroid that becomes their permanent entry into the archive. That photograph then becomes an original artifact connected to a specific person, place, and moment in time.
By pairing these physical artifacts with short documentary style films, recorded conversations, and photography, we preserve not only what artists created, but the stories surrounding their work.
WHY A PHYSICAL ARCHIVE?
AN EVER-EXPANDING CREATIVE NETWORK
The Artidex is more than a collection of individual entries: it is a growing collective of artists. With each person documented, the archive becomes part of a wider creative network shaped by connection, recommendation, and shared experience.
Through their participation in Artidex, artists have discovered one another, formed friendships, and begun new collaborations. Participants introduce us to other artists, disciplines intersect, and audiences encounter new work through the portraits, films, and conversations surrounding each entry. Every artist brings their own community into the archive while becoming part of the communities already represented within it.
The Artidex Project is committed to nurturing these connections beyond the moment of documentation. As the collective grows, it becomes a community support system through which artists can exchange knowledge, share resources, recommend one another for opportunities, offer encouragement, and find new creative collaborators. We actively look for ways to connect participants whose work, experiences, or ambitions may resonate, and to open doors between artists, audiences, and the larger cultural network surrounding the archive.
The Artidex Foundation also plans to host artist-centered exhibitions, gatherings, and fundraising events that bring the collective together while creating new opportunities for its members. These events may showcase participating artist entries, generate paid or commissioned opportunities, expand their audiences, and raise funds for grants and other forms of direct artist support. In this way, fundraising becomes more than a means of sustaining the archive: it becomes another way to reinvest in the community of artists who give the archive its meaning.
The archive preserves each artist’s story individually while creating the conditions for its participants to support, amplify, and become more powerful alongside one another.
Artidex artist Entries #009, #010, #018 and #004 together at Openaire at The Line Hotel Los Angeles for the founders birthday dinner
from the Board of Directors Kait Fischer and Noah Boujikian
…building a network of mutual support