Since its first performance in 2002, Christian Nerf’s Polite Force (2002–) has accumulated a growing archive of ephemera – from VHS tape recordings of early iterations to handwritten workshop notes, ‘polite’ certificates and miscellaneous photographs. These, in addition to the more expected paper matter (flyers, catalogues, newspaper clippings) and the necessary Polite-issued uniform: navy T-shirts and caps, and the occasional bulletproof vest. 

Christian Nerf visited our Reading Room to unpack the Polite archive over two days. (Incidentally, Gabrielle Guy's END (2021) occurred in an adjacent room on the same day that Nerf arrived to unpack Polite, and Nerf ended up incorporating three of Guy's ENDS into his project.) A4's curatorial studio catalogued each Polite item, making a digital inventory (accessible below in A4's Special Collections) towards an incidental history of the performance across time and place. A selection of the archive was shown in A4’s booth at the 2022 Cape Town Art Fair to mark the project’s twentieth year.

Browse the Polite Force Special Collection below, or visit Gabrielle Guy's END.