Art Archives Study. Before and after 2004

For decades these three archives have collected, preserved, and made available documentation relating to the contemporary artistic production and its protagonists, writers, and venues in their respective countries, offering researchers and the interested public a wealth of information about the individual figures, institutions, and exhibitions of the art of the 20th and 21st centuries. All partners manage their respective comprehensive databases (Art and Research Database basis wien, abART, RazUme), which together contain data on more than 250,000 exhibitions and 330,000 individuals. The year 2004, marking the largest expansion of the EU with the accession of ten new member states, including the Czech Republic and Slovenia, serves as the project’s focal point. The collaborative project aimed to examine how this historical moment influenced contemporary art practices and related contexts within the regions represented by the archives.

In order to achieve this goal, the project partners combined classical research method and oral history interviews with statistical data analysis.

Three workshops were held, one at each participating archive, to analyse relevant material held in their collections, mainly ephemera and publications related to events and the discourse around 2004. New findings were added to the databases, augmenting the archives' collections.

An overview of discussed events and material from the Archive of Fine Arts in Prague can be found here: https://en.isabart.org/term/8277

A portion of the research materials was also exhibited at basis wien during the international conference I REMEMBER THIS. Documents from the archive and library were shown in their usual storage place, using the archival furniture and library shelfs as displays. The physical materials were contextualised by way of a room plan, linked directly to the online database via QR codes.

To complement and deepen the insights based on the archival research, oral history interviews were conducted with several key figures offering different perspectives on collaborations and the connections between artists, curators, institutions, non-governmental organisations, archives, and art markets in an evolving context.

The interviews were added to the archive’s holdings and databases, where they can be accessed by researchers. In addition, a brochure containing all 9 interviews conducted in English during the duration of the project was published by Moderna galerija [Access here]. The publication includes a map showcasing selected curators, artists, art critics, institutions, foundations, venues, collections, exhibitions, and projects referenced throughout the brochure.

The third avenue of research was based on the three archives’ vast collections of structured metadata acquired during decades of database-supported archiving. And a series of standardised queries was developed.

The results of the research were shared and discussed with archive professionals during the dialogical workshop Archival Methods in Practice: Data Visualisation, Material Research and Oral History as part of the annual meeting of European-art.net.

A detailed description of the methodology, results for each archive, visualisatons and more can be found in the downloadable brochure Art Archives Study. Before and after 2004. Queries.

To expand the research beyond the boundaries of the participating archives, the one-day conference I REMEMBER THIS was organised. The speakers at the conference consisted of renowned theorists, artist, curators, and young scientists who were reached via an open call. This group of speakers, drawn from different areas of the art field, greatly enriched perspectives on the topic.

The hybrid conference brought together an audience of over 80 international scholars, artists, archivists, theorists, students and from an interested public at basis wien, fostering a dynamic exchange of experiences and insights. It also resulted in the expansion of the archival holdings, adding new material through the direct exchange with contributors and the documentation of the conference, which will also be stored in all three archives.

A review of the conference can be found on the blog Art Archives Study which followed the project from the beginning and offers more detailed information about each step of the project’s progress.

Disclaimer: “Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.”