Costanza Caraffa, Ute Dercks, Almut Goldhahn

Reactivating Photographic Archives. Archival and Curatorial Practices at the Photothek

The Photothek of the Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz is a laboratory that is actively engaged in the international and transdisciplinary debate on photo archives in twenty-first-century research and societies. Its commitment to the study and preservation of photographic heritage is theoretically and methodologically rooted in the notions of photo-objects and photo-archival ecosystems. This material approach challenges traditional art-historical hierarchies and shifts attention to the Photothek’s seemingly indistinct masses of still largely anonymous photographs. New reflections on the systems of value that govern (and are produced by) photographic archives emerge especially in collaboration projects with artists. Our paper will present some projects and strategies of the past few years that help to bridge a historical perspective with present-day issues.