The 4th Learning / Teaching / Training / Activity (LTTA) mobility week of the Erasmus+ project Art Archives Exchange – Educational Strategies for Contemporary Art Archives was held between 31st May and the 4th June, 2021 in Ljubljana. The organizers of the event were Teja Merhar and Jana Ferhan from the Archives of the Museum of Contemporary Art Metelkova (MG+MSUM). On behalf of Artpool Art Research Center Dóra Halasi and Gabriella Schuller participated in the program.
The project was launched in 2018 by four archives: Moderna galerija, Ljubljana; basis wien, Wien; Archiv vytvarneho umeni, Prague; Muzeul National de Arta Contemporana al Romaniei, Bucharest; and the Museum of Fine Arts – Artpool Art Research Center, Budapest.It aimed to exchange experiences of different working methods, and discuss various questions related to archiving. The final results summarise the lessons learned from the last 3 years (including a glossary of basic concepts and good archival practices) and are accessible on the EAN website.
In Ljubljana we studied the operation of the MG+MSUM archive, methods of collecting and sorting, and an online database, which has been documenting the local and international exhibitions of Slovenian artists since 1971. We gained insight into the Photo Archive of Moderna galerija and the Temporary Slovenian Dance Archive, which operates in the MSUM’s building but is an independent institute. We visited the SCCA Ljubljana non profit institution where Vesna Bukovec introduced the Diva Station (Digital Video Archive), which was established in 2005 to research, present and preserve Slovenian video and media art. During these visits, not only did our perspectives broaden, but we also learned about a number of aspects that we will consider implementing ourselves (e.g., museum integration and developing our own database).