The SALT Research Architecture and Design Archive has organized a series of public programs to investigate the processes in managing, archiving, and preserving "born-digital" architectural materials, to run throughout this year.
Managing content of digital origin requires new policies and standards, as well as expertise and cooperation, different to current archival practices, especially in the complex field of architecture. SALT Galata's programs will be accompanied by seminars and workshops at selected universities and architecture firms, led by senior archivists from SALT Research following their professional visits to various international institutions in the field.
The first event at SALT Galata today will focus on the transfer of the Rotterdam-based MVRDV's digital archive to the architecture museum Het Nieuwe Instituut. Panelists Suzanne Mulder, Annet Dekker, and Jan Knikker will address the issues at stake during the acquisition and management of a born-digital architectural collection, while discussing collaborations among curators, architects, and researchers in this context.
Mulder has been the curator of collections at Het Nieuwe Instituut since 2009, and is currently responsible for the acquisition of MVRDV's digital archive. She is also a guest lecturer at the Academie van Bouwkunst and the Reinwardt Academie in Amsterdam.
Dekker is an assistant professor in the Media Studies Archival Science Program at the University of Amsterdam, and a visiting professor and co-director of the Centre for the Study of the Networked Image at London South Bank University. She also works as an independent researcher and curator.
Knikker has been working on many publications and exhibitions in shaping the public image of MVRDV and leading the office's business development efforts since 2008. Knikker, who was a member of the International Projects Commission of the Netherlands Architecture Fund between 2007 and 2011, currently lectures internationally and writes for various publications.
The panel will be held in English with simultaneous translation into Turkish.