Challenging Collections. Common Things and Alternative Archives

How can the concept of commons be thought in the context of museums, archives and collections? What is the tension between alternative collection strategies and the reproduction of an established canon? What role do artistic practices play concerning the democratization and accessibility of collections?

Against the trend of increasing economization and canonization of collecting, there are ever louder voices criticizing gaps in collections and fueling discussions about new and diverse collecting strategies. If one understands the creation of commons also as a social practice for the formulation of alternative forms of knowledge production and knowledge exchange, challenging questions of accessibility, ownership and publicity open up for public museums, collections and archives. Based on the recently published volume Challenging Collections. Common Things and Alternative Archives (eds. Martina Griesser-Stermscheg, Nora Sternfeld, Luisa Ziaja, curating. ausstellungstheorie & praxis Band 5, Edition Angewandte, de Gruyter, Berlin/Boston 2020), the participants of the online round tables develop new perspectives on the link between established institutional infrastructures and alternative methods of collecting. The volume is published in the book series Edition Angewandte of the University of Applied Arts Wien.

With Antonia Alampi, Filipa César, Knut Ebeling, Martina Griesser-Stermscheg, Belinda Kazeem-Kaminski, Cornelia Sollfrank, Nora Sternfeld, Luisa Ziaja, Franciska Zólyom

6 pm
The Archivirus: Introduction & Book Launch
Martina Griesser-Stermscheg, Nora Sternfeld, Luisa Ziaja in conversation with Knut Ebeling

7 pm
The Common and the Canon
With Franciska Zólyom, Antonia Alampi and Cornelia Sollfrank, moderated by Nora Sternfeld

8 pm
The Archive and Artistic Practice
With Filipa César and Belinda Kazeem-Kaminski, moderated by Luisa Ziaja

A cooperation with Martina Griesser-Stermscheg, Nora Sternfeld, Luisa Ziaja in the context of The Whole Life. An Archive Project