Performing the Photothek

Rhetorics of Value in Photographic Archives

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15756920

Keywords:

Photographic archives, photographic objects, performance, body, curating, materiality, ecosystem, agency

Abstract

Photographic archives have been the laboratories in which scientific and scholarly methodologies have been cast over more than a century, not only for the history of art. The advent of digital technologies seemed to consign them to obsolescence, but it also started a process of reviewing their function and value in research and contemporary societies. Since 2007, the Photothek of the Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz has been contributing to this international, transdisciplinary debate. Rooted in the notions of photo-objects and photo-archival ecosystems, its approach challenges traditional art-historical hierarchies and shifts attention to materiality and archival practices. New reflections on the systems of value that govern (and are produced by) photographic archives emerge especially in collaborations with artists. This paper will present some projects and strategies of the past few years that bridge a historical perspective with present-day issues. A focus will be on the hands and bodies of archivists performing archives and communicating their value.

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Author Biography

Costanza Caraffa, Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz - Max-Planck-Institut

PhD Berlin 2003. Head of the Photothek at the Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz – Max-Planck-Institut since 2006. In 2009 initiated the Photo Archives conference series. In 2018 co-curated the Berlin exhibition “Unboxing Photographs.” Edited or co-edited publications: Photo Archives and the Photographic Memory of Art History (2011); Photo Archives and the Idea of Nation (2015, with T. Serena); Photo-Objects. On the Materiality of Photographs and Photo Archives in the Humanities and Sciences (2019) and Foto-Objekte. Forschen in archäologischen, ethnologischen und kunsthistorischen Archiven (2020, both with J. Bärnighausen, S. Klamm, F. Schneider and P. Wodtke); On Alinari. Archive in Transition (2021) with artist Armin Linke; Encounters in an Archive. Objects of Migration / Photo-Objects of Art History (2023, with A. Goldhahn) featuring artist Massimo Ricciardo.

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Published

01.07.2025

How to Cite

Caraffa, C. (2025). Performing the Photothek: Rhetorics of Value in Photographic Archives. Archivo Papers, 5, 45–63. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15756920