Artpool40Active Archives and Art Networks

International Conference of the Artpool Art Research Center

February 20–21, 2020 Museum of Fine Arts, Schickedanz Hall, Budapest

Agustina Andreoletti | Zdenka Badovinac | David Crowley | Katalin Cseh-Varga | Mela Dávila Freire | Lina Džuverović | Meghan Forbes | Daniel Grúň | Sarah Haylett | John Held | Roddy HunterJudit Bodor | Jasna JakšićTihana Puc | Klara Kemp-Welch | Kaja Kraner | Emese Kürti | Karolina Majewska-Güde | Lívia Páldi | Henar Rivière | Sven Spieker | Kristine Stiles | Katalin Timár | Tomasz Załuski | Elisabeth Zimmermann

Zdenka Badovinac [Biography]
Self-Historicization – Artists’ Archives in Eastern Europe

Abstract:

Self-historicization is an informal system of historicization practiced by artists who, due to the absence of any suitable institutional work, are themselves compelled to search for their own historical/interpretive context. My contribution will reflect on the impact that artists’ archives have on changing the understanding of historicizing, and consequently, of the museum.

Museums and collections are still too classified and made to the measure of the collective memory of the dominant communities. We will need different, more hybrid institutions in the future so that art and other diverse material can formulate stories together, no longer being restricted by the classification systems of collections. Museums based on the principles of artists’ archives will be better suited to such stories.