Podcast:
Lose Enden in Archiven.
Archives for Contemporary Art
With Brigitta Coers and Anna Schäffler
In German
Lose Enden in Archiven is a four-part podcast that explores some unanswered questions about archival practice, theory, exhibition- and institutional history, and ties them to the new archive at KUNST-WERKE BERLIN e. V.
The podcast is conceived and moderated by Jenny Dirksen and Lara Scherrieble.
Wolfgang Breuer, Good Soup, 2009, in the exhibition Wolfgang Breuer. Organic Food Shop at KW Institute for Contemporary Art; Courtesy the artist, Photo: Bernd Borchardt
Contemporary art in many ways explodes traditional practices of archiving – especially observable in process-oriented or collectively created formats. Archives dealing with contemporary art and its exhibition contexts thus have to face specific demands. At the same time, a change in self-understanding is emerging in archival practice, accompanying future archival material from the moment of its creation. We will discuss not only these current challenges of archives of contemporary art, but also how archives and actors concerned with the documentation of their work can network with each other in their work.
Birgitta Coers has been director of the documenta archive of documenta und Museum Fridericianum gGmbH in Kassel since October 2020, following previous positions in the FID Art and Photography at the Saxon State and University Library Dresden and the State Archive of Baden-Württemberg, among others. As an art historian, she focused early on archival- and information science issues as well as artists’ estates.
Anna Schäffler is an art historian and curator living in Berlin. One focus of her research at the intersection of theory and practice is the preservation of contemporary art and cultural objects. In this context, she recently published “The Art of Conservation” (Munich 2021, in German) and co-curates the event series “Networks of Care” at nGbK Berlin.
Production: Franz Schütte, Nadel Eins Studio Berlin
Sound recording: Large Dark Wind Chime by Klaus Weber, currently installed in KW’s courtyard
Speaker: Mareike Hein