Archival consultancy, project management firm, and software incubator founded by AC Diamond in 2025. A company website is coming! Until then…
Consultation Menu
Every project begins with a free initial consultation. Set up yours today, and ask me anything about:
Project Appraisal
Have you recently uncovered or inherited a trove? Understand the value of your collection, and learn how we can help you meet its unique needs and challenges. Book a free 15-minute phone call with AC to discuss your project needs, and to determine if Critical Interval is a fit.
Risk Mitigation & Emergency Planning
From material degradation to natural disasters to government orders, there are many reasons why archival collections may be at risk. We provide confidential risk assessments, emergency plans, and relocation management services.
Project Realization
We can bring structure and momentum to your project, no matter what it is. From digitization studio setup to data-gathering to developing methods of creative storytelling with archival data, we’ve got you covered. Something else? Try us.
About Us
Critical Interval Archival Systems aims to establish itself as an artist-run archival studio. Founded by AC Diamond (née Anastasia Clarke) in 2025, we aim to support other artists, collectors, and their families in preserving and managing creative and intellectual legacies through the care of objects—papers, photos, artwork, ephemera, and electronic media.
As artists & creative technologists with overlapping archival skills, we are uniquely suited to solve the preservation challenges posed by contemporary works making use of emergent technologies. In addition to collection processing, we are experienced in the hands-on care of integrated analog-digital artworks, including those which use custom embedded systems, artificial intelligence, and interactive technologies.
Our Approach to Growth
Our staffing model is collective, cooperative, and built to foster long-term collaborative relationships. Currently, we are seeking:
- a full-stack software developer to create a prototype
- artists with large or complex archival collections who would like to be amongst the first users to test and evaluate our product
- investment partners who understand the long-term value of archival infrastructure and want to help shape software rooted in care, autonomy, and creative stewardship (if this is you, contact me!)
- We’re not hiring anyone else right now, but we never know what projects might come across our desks—so if you are an archivist, media preservation specialist, digitizer of moving images, etc., feel free to send us your résumé!
What We Do
Our goal is to design flexible, sustainable infrastructures that allow collections to evolve, remain accessible, and retain long-term value. At this stage, we offer consulting and project management appropriate for alternative or non-institutions, single artists’ archives, and/or privately held collections of artist publications or works.
Our specialties include:
- Archival systems design
- Cross-format cataloging
- Data collection and cross-referencing for accurate inventories
- Database integration and implementation
- Media and digital preservation
- Risk mitigation and contingency planning
- Collection relocation, storage, and stewardship transitions
- Strategic knowledge management
We serve:
- Independent artists
- Artist Studios & Estates
- Nonprofits and small orgs
- Open-source creative tech developers
- Collectors
- Families
- Data Storytellers
AC’s projects past and present:
- UGO RONDINONE ARCHIVES (Head of Archives, 2021-present)
- GIORNO POETRY SYSTEMS ARCHIVES (Director of Archives, 2015-2021)
- LOIS VIERK’S RED SHIFT: PRESERVING CUSTOM SOUNDS FOR THE YAMAHA TX81Z SYNTHESIZER (Conservationist – Digital Audio Programming & Documentation, 2019-2020/2024)
- ELECTRONIC ARTS INTERMIX (Inventory Specialist + Relocation Consultant, 2021)
- KOANS AND LIBERATION PROJECT ARCHIVE for PACIFIC ZEN INSTITUTE (Consultant, 2016)
- “I ♥ JOHN GIORNO” BY UGO RONDINONE (Processing Archivist/Digital Imaging Specialist, 2013-2015)