Performing the Photothek: Rhetorics of Value in Photographic Archives

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.