This unique project will make the usually hidden but crucial curatorial processes involved in their realization available for interpretation, while also preserving important archival material for future generations. The project aims to connect researchers, curators, heritage professionals and developers to create a network that will stimulate collaboration and communication between the academic and museum worlds and the creative industries in the field of preservation and valorization of archival material.
Documenting Curatorial Practices in Dutch Art Museums (1945-Today)
The Netherlands has a tradition of innovative curatorial practice in temporary museum exhibitions and collection presentations. Much of this practice – once dismantled – has unfortunately become invisible. This pilot-project – a cooperation between the University of Amsterdam and Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen – represents the first step in creating a database that will make available to art historians, museologists, curators, educators, exhibition designers, and the general public the wealth of photographs and subsidiary material documenting exhibitions and displays in Dutch art museums from 1945 to today.
Visitors at the 'Dalí' exhibition in 1970. Photo: Behrens.
Starting with the archives of the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, the pilot will examine the materials available. Selected cases to study the museum’s exhibition history include Dalí (1970), The Physical Self, curated by Peter Greenaway in 1991, Dutch Primitives, Paintings from the late Middle Ages (2003) and Hand Made – Long Live Crafts (2013).
In this phase, the aim is to produce research questions and a glossary of terms that can serve as the basis for the digital infrastructure. The results will be presented at expert meetings with museum curators, archivists and academics, and the outcomes reported in one or more scholarly articles.
The article written by Rachel Esner and Fieke Konijn about the outcomes of the research can be found here.
This project is supported by Creative Industry – Knowledge Innovation Mapping (KIEM), an initiative of the NWO (the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research.