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| The Abramović Archive | |
|---|---|
| Name | The Abramović Archive |
| Established | 2010s |
| Location | Belgrade; Amsterdam; online |
| Type | Performance art archive; contemporary art repository |
| Director | Marina Abramović (founder) |
| Collections | performance documentation, scores, objects, video, photographic, ephemera, correspondence |
The Abramović Archive
The Abramović Archive is a specialized archival repository devoted to the works, records, and legacy of the artist Marina Abramović, documenting performances, scores, correspondence, exhibitions, and related institutional interactions. The Archive supports scholarly research, curatorial practice, and public programming connected to Abramović’s career and networks across Europe, North America, and global art institutions. It collaborates with museums, universities, and cultural bodies to preserve material related to landmark events, residencies, and collaborations.
The Archive collects and preserves primary materials tied to Abramović’s practice and intersections with figures and institutions such as Yoko Ono, Joseph Beuys, Carolee Schneemann, Allan Kaprow, Nam June Paik, John Cage, Merce Cunningham, Pina Bausch, Laurie Anderson, Anselm Kiefer, Sandro Chia, Giorgio Morandi, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Nicholas Serota, The Museum of Modern Art, Tate Modern, Stedelijk Museum, Guggenheim Museum, Centre Pompidou, Van Abbemuseum, Serpentine Galleries, Walker Art Center, Whitney Museum of American Art and other major collections. Its purpose includes safeguarding performance scores, audiovisual documentation, object-based works, press materials, and legal records associated with notable exhibitions such as Documenta, Venice Biennale, São Paulo Art Biennial, Berlin Biennale, Art Basel, Frieze Art Fair, and touring retrospectives. The Archive also aims to facilitate interdisciplinary research linking Abramović’s network with scholars at institutions including Harvard University, Yale University, Columbia University, University College London, Goldsmiths, University of London, University of Arts London, Royal College of Art, The Courtauld Institute of Art, and Rijksakademie.
Founded in the 2010s amid increased institutional interest following high-profile projects at MoMA PS1, Guggenheim Bilbao, Palazzo delle Esposizioni, and MACBA, the Archive evolved through donations, institutional partnerships, and collaborations with galleries like Gagosian Gallery, Pace Gallery, White Cube, Perrotin, and Lisson Gallery. Early phases involved cataloguing materials from performances such as those at Kunsthalle Basel, Haus der Kunst, MUMOK, Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, and events organized by producers such as Gladstone Gallery and curators including Okwui Enwezor, Adrian Searle, Achim Borchardt-Hume, Christine Macel, Kerry James Marshall and Theaster Gates. The Archive’s development paralleled archival initiatives for artists like Tracey Emin, Yves Klein, Marcel Duchamp, Robert Rauschenberg, Yves Klein, Andy Warhol, Marina Tsvetaeva, and collaborations with preservation programs at Istituto Svizzero, British Library, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, and Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision.
Holdings include performance scores, handwritten notes, contracts, stage directions, backstage photographs, set designs, costume pieces, video masters, installation documentation, conservation reports, press clippings, and correspondence with collectors and institutions such as Charles Saatchi, Peggy Guggenheim, Leonard Lauder, Eli Broad, Paul Getty Trust, Henry Moore Foundation, Fonds National d'Art Contemporain, Mondriaan Fund, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, and European cultural programs like Creative Europe. The Archive documents specific performances connected to venues and festivals including The Kitchen, Performance Space New York, Kunstmuseum Basel, Fondazione Prada, Royal Opera House, Lincoln Center, Sydney Opera House, Institut Valencia d’Art Modern (IVAM), Hayward Gallery, Royal Academy of Arts, Palazzo Grassi, and private commissions by patrons such as Dasha Zhukova and Roman Abramovich. Also preserved are oral histories, interviews for broadcasters like BBC, NPR, Arte, Channel 4, and production files from media partners including Vimeo, YouTube, and major archives.
Materials are catalogued using international standards adopted by partners such as International Council on Archives, International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions, Getty Research Institute, Digital Preservation Coalition, OCLC, and RDA (Resource Description and Access). Finding aids reference exhibitions at institutions like Tate Liverpool, Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Ikon Gallery, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and accession records from galleries. Access policies balance research requests from scholars affiliated with Princeton University, University of Chicago, New York University, Brown University, Johns Hopkins University, and visiting curators from Biennale of Sydney and Sharjah Biennial, with conservation protocols and loan agreements for institutions such as The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium.
The Archive employs digitization workflows compliant with standards promoted by Library of Congress, Europeana, Dublin Core, PREMIS, METS, and collaborates with tech partners like Microsoft Research, Google Arts & Culture, Internet Archive, DPLA (Digital Public Library of America), Europeana Foundation, Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe and laboratories at MIT Media Lab and Stanford University Libraries. Preservation formats include lossless audiovisual masters, born-digital documentation, checksum routines, storage replication across data centers in Amsterdam, Belgrade, London, New York City, and partnerships with cloud services used by major museums.
The Archive supports exhibitions, symposiums, and residencies in collaboration with curators like Hans Ulrich Obrist, Nicholas Bourriaud, Fondazione Prada, Haus der Kunst, Serpentine Pavilion, Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall, Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles, and academic conferences hosted at Courtauld Institute, Royal College of Art, Columbia University School of the Arts, and Goldsmiths. It facilitates loans for retrospectives at venues including Whitechapel Gallery, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Stedelijk Museum Schiedam, Fundación MAPFRE, and organizes public programs with cultural figures such as Ai Weiwei, Anish Kapoor, Olafur Eliasson, Yayoi Kusama, Cindy Sherman, Marina Abramović-adjacent collaborators like Ulay, Tino Sehgal, and performance historians.
The Archive navigates copyright, moral rights, and personality rights interfacing with legal frameworks across jurisdictions including courts and agencies in United Kingdom, United States, Netherlands, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and with organizations such as WIPO, European Union Intellectual Property Office, US Copyright Office, and guidelines from ICOM. Agreements with lenders, rights holders, broadcasters, and estates—including collectors, foundations, and institutions like Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation and Fondazione Antonio Dalle Nogare—govern reproduction, access, and exhibition. Ethical practices align with standards promoted by AAMD (Association of Art Museum Directors), Cultural Property Advisory Committee, and professional codes used by archivists and conservators.
Category:Archives