Many threats are pressuring the seemingly calmness of the archive. Constantly balancing between consultation and conservation, its building has the paradoxical task to preserve while many bodies are circulating within its heart. Friction grows from the archive’s institutional goal and the practical aspect to realise it. The archive relies on a harsh selection process, in order to keep the archive from drowning under its own weight. The selection relies in theory on decision-tree diagrams to help the archivists to make decisions. Yet, not every choice can be justified that way. Archivists have to learn to negotiate with the different forms of life present in archives. However, having to cohabitate with them, they guide us to think about peculiar forms of archiving.