Workshop
The Making Of: Archival Crates with the Ambiguous Standards Institute
Organized by Anna-Maria Meister and the Lise Meitner Group “Coded Objects” within the framework of the “Coded Objects” Artistic Archival Residency, the first such residency in collaboration with the saai | Archive for Architecture and Engineering, KIT Karlsruhe, and the KHI Historical Archive
The archive knows, a lot. We know what the archive knows. However, what does it not know, to what extent? And how do we know about it?
In the next edition of the event series “The Making Of,” artists-in-residence Cansu Cürgen and Avşar Gürpınar will present their artistic practice and methodology of assembling objects, documents, and replicas into archival crates as both a research tool and a speculative form. Through the processes of boxing and unboxing, they will reveal how archives classify not only what is known, but also what remains unknown.
This presentation is part of the newly launched “Coded Objects” artistic archival residency at the KHI Historical Archive (KHIA) in Florence and the saai | Archive for Architecture and Engineering, KIT Karlsruhe. In this first artistic residency in both archives, the artists will further develop the research and practice of their Ambiguous Standards Institute (ASI), a semi-fictional art and design platform that investigates culturally embedded categories through (everyday) objects.
In “Ambiguous Standards of the Archive,” Cansu Cürgen and Avşar Gürpınar propose to ground our critical attention on “taxonomies of the unknown.” Here, the archive is not seen as a neutral storehouse of knowledge, where everything is absolute, but as a site where standards are made, contested, and sometimes withheld; not a static entity but a dynamic and generative one. Working with archival materials from the saai and the KHIA, the artists ask how the unknown appears and disappears in catalogues, boxes, folders, and labels, and what kinds of ambiguity, absence, or uncertainty archival systems produce.
The event series "The Making Of," organized by the Lise Meitner Group "Coded Objects," asks our guests to invite us behind the scenes of their process of making: of artworks, of texts, of films, or of objects. How did they come into being? What were the constraints, limitations or adversities and, conversely, the opportunities and decisions that shaped both the process and the (potential) outcome? Rather than an artist’s talk or a scholarly lecture, this series seeks to discuss the processes of making firsthand.
Work in progress from the “Coded Objects” artistic archival residency, Ambiguous Standards Institute, 2026.
Biographical Notes
Cansu Cürgen (PhD, FHEA) is an architectural designer, scholar, and co-founder of Ambiguous Standards Institute (ASI). A lecturer at Loughborough University's School of Architecture, Building and Civil Engineering, she explores the political economy of design, everyday life studies, and how spaces shape subjectivity.
ASI's work has been exhibited internationally, including at the MSU Broad Art Museum (2025), The Art Institute of Chicago (2021), Jerusalem Design Weeks, and Istanbul Design Biennials. Recent projects include "When Pigs Fly," a public art commission in Istanbul (2024). She served as associate curator for the Türkiye Pavilion at the 16th Venice Architecture Biennale (2018).
Avşar Gürpınar (PhD, FHEA) is a scholar, designer, and co-founder of the Ambiguous Standards Institute. He holds degrees in Electrical Engineering and Industrial Product Design. In 2021, the Arts Council England endorsed him as an exceptional talent in arts and culture.
Avşar works as a senior lecturer in conceptual art and speculative design at the School of Design and Creative Arts, Loughborough University. His research focuses on critical design, cultural studies, and art and design history. His works include "When Pigs Fly," a public artwork created in collaboration with Cansu Cürgen, and Ambiguous Standards Institute's solo exhibition, held at the Art Institute of Chicago in 2021. The Art Institute of Chicago, MSU Broad, and Loughborough University have acquired several pieces of ASI's work for their permanent collections.
07 July 2026
Florence
Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz - Max-Planck-Institut
Via dei Servi 51
50122 Firenze
To attend the talk in person no registration is necessary.
To participate online via Zoom please register here
Further information
Notice
Information on the accessibility of our event venues can be found on our Accessibility at Events page.
This event will be documented photographically and/or recorded on video. Please let us know if you do not agree with the Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz using images in which you might be recognizable for event documentation and public relation purposes (e.g. social media).