{"id":2944,"date":"2020-04-09T16:12:59","date_gmt":"2020-04-09T16:12:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.arca.art\/en\/?p=2944"},"modified":"2020-04-16T16:20:40","modified_gmt":"2020-04-16T16:20:40","slug":"online-documentation-and-archives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.arca.art\/en\/resources\/online-documentation-and-archives\/","title":{"rendered":"Online Documentation and Archives"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>
\nThis article considers the possibilities of archives and documentation, with a specific focus on their online dissemination and circulation. Particular emphasis will be placed on archive and documentation access and reuse by the greatest number of users possible. In the history of archiving, this was not always the most popular approach. Some archivists continue to advocate for the idea of protecting the integrity of an archive by limiting physical access to it.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Online Documentation and Archives<\/b><\/h1>\n

April 9, 2020<\/span><\/p>\n

By Isabelle L\u2019Heureux, Digital cultural development officer, Conseil qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois des arts m\u00e9diatiques (CQAM), Regroupement des arts interdisciplinaires du Qu\u00e9bec (RAIQ), and Le Regroupement des centres d\u2019artistes autog\u00e9r\u00e9s du Qu\u00e9bec (RCAAQ).<\/p>\n

This article is based on two workshops\u2014\u201cLa diffusion de la documentation en ligne et l\u2019archive (Dissemination of Online Documentation and Archives)\u201d (2019) and \u201cPerformance Documentation: Exploring Digital Curation and Archiving\u201d (2018)\u2014given by H\u00e9l\u00e8ne Brousseau, librarian at Artexte. These workshops were commissioned by ARCA for members of the Association des groups en arts visuels francophones (AGAVF) and members of an ad hoc group of performance art presenters, with support from the Canada Council for the Arts Digital Strategy Fund.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

This article considers the possibilities of archives and documentation, with a specific focus on their online dissemination and circulation. Particular emphasis will be placed on archive and documentation access and reuse by the greatest number of users possible. In the history of archiving, this was not always the most popular approach. Some archivists continue to advocate for the idea of protecting the integrity of an archive by limiting physical access to it. Today, given the fact that the vast majority of documents created are natively digital, the access-versus-preservation dilemma, which once had some relevance, is usually no longer an issue. Whether a webpage is consulted three times or 300,000 times, its physical integrity and legibility will remain unchanged. We are thus faced with a particularly favourable opportunity to further open and even circulate artist-run centres\u2019 archives and documents.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Why document and archive?<\/b><\/h2>\n

As defined in the Canadian Encyclopedia, \u201c<\/span>archives<\/span><\/a> constitute that coherent body of recorded information created or received by a government, corporate body or organization in the course of its business, or by an individual in his or her activities, which is selected for its enduring value and then maintained, preferably in continuous authorized custody, as a record of that business or activity.\u201d The term <\/span>documentation<\/span><\/i>, for its part, is more comprehensive, as it includes documents that are not necessarily produced or received by a person or organization\u2014e.g., publications about a person or organization (articles, magazines, books, journals, encyclopedias, etc.) produced by a third party.<\/span><\/p>\n

As mentioned in the introduction, increasingly our archives and other documents are digitally integrated, whether they are natively digital, digitized for purposes of access and preservation, or simply listed in a numerical index. These groups of documents may be preserved by the individuals and organizations that produce them, or by national-level organizations devoted to this type of work, such as<\/span> Artexte<\/span><\/a> (for the Canadian contemporary art milieu), or<\/span> Library and Archives Canada<\/span><\/a>. The value of preserving archives lies primarily in their testimonial value. For this value to be experienced fully, archives must be visible\/viewed and usable\/used. Furthermore, they afford creative groups and individuals a record of their practices and achievements, can be used by artists and organizations as a means of referencing past events, and are indispensable to researchers as primary sources.<\/span><\/p>\n

For artist-run centres, an archive is not only a portal into an organization\u2019s memory, but also into the history of a particular cultural movement in Canada.<\/span> The preservation of these traces thus contributes to validating and creating new knowledge about contemporary art<\/span><\/a>. It forms a documentary base, which helps us to confirm the historical and ongoing importance of ARCs to the structure of our independent arts community. Finally, archives promote informed perspectives on this structure, which in turn may facilitate regular re-assessment of it and help us deal with the constantly evolving issues of artistic creation in different social, technical, and political contexts.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What do we archive? What do we document?<\/b><\/h2>\n

In our contemporary art community, archiving and documentation originate with the various entities operating within our particular ecosystem: artists, artist-run centres, funders, public-sector organizations, universities, researchers, publishers, and the media.<\/span><\/p>\n

Documentation of art practices, art works, or events may take a wide variety of forms: texts, drawings, scripts, images, videos, photographs, audio recordings, posters, brochures, interviews with artists or others, reviews, press coverage, etc.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Archiving the Web<\/b><\/h2>\n

Artist-run centres that wish to keep a record of their website may easily do so with<\/span> Webrecorder<\/span><\/a>, a tool that creates interactive copies of webpages. This open-source program is a project of Rhizome, a New York\u2013based organization devoted to digital art. A webinar on the use of webrecorder.io, produced by Artexte, can be viewed<\/span> here<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Legal issues of online dissemination<\/b><\/h2>\n

Copyright<\/b><\/h3>\n

As part of their documentation and dissemination activities, artist-run centres must take into account Canadian copyright legislation. Artists have the right to document their work, to give or not give consent for documentation of their work, and to make copies of such documentation. For their part, ARCs are responsible for obtaining the artist\u2019s consent for all forms of documentation. Further, if the documentation is to be used in new ways not outlined in the original contract, the artist\u2019s consent is required. Documentation of an artist\u2019s work remains the artist\u2019s property.<\/span> In 2012, however, Canadian copyright law was amended to give ownership of copyright to the photographer rather than the client who hired them.<\/span><\/a> This means that unless an ARC has a specific contract with the photographer or videographer documenting an exhibition, the ARC\u2019s licence to use these images will be limited. Therefore, there must be consistency between the contract with the artist and the contract with the photographer hired to document the artist\u2019s work. Thus, if the artist is to retain copyright over the documentation of their work, this clause must also be negotiated with the photographer. The same logic applies to text-based documentation. Use of an author\u2019s material must be negotiated with the author before it can be published online by the artist or the ARC.<\/span><\/p>\n

Contracts and agreements<\/b><\/h3>\n

Contracts between creators and disseminators can include clauses on the documentation of art works. Such clauses should specify whether copyright is exclusive or not, and transferable or not, and should indicate the term of the contract and the authorized usage. The declaration of copyright also makes it explicit who owns the documentation. This helps to clarify whether or not obtaining a licence for future use will be necessary.<\/span><\/p>\n

Free licences<\/b><\/h3>\n

In some cases, creators (in the fields of research, art, or cultural work) may choose to attach<\/span> free licences<\/span><\/a>, such as<\/span> Creative Commons<\/span><\/a>, to their publicly accessible content. Such licences specify the categories of use allowed for each category of content, and facilitate the sharing and broader circulation of such content in compliance with copyright law. It should be noted that <\/span>free<\/span><\/i> does not mean <\/span>without cost<\/span><\/i>. Access to licenced content can be granted in exchange for payment. One common example is publications that are available online for free (or at cost) under Creative Commons (usually in PDF or HTML format), but with a print version also sold in bookstores. Application of such licences to ARC content (calls for proposals, event documentation, essays, etc.) should involve prior discussion between the various collaborators (writers, artists, photographers)\u2014and this information should also be integrated into the collaborators\u2019 respective contracts. Felicity Tayler\u2019s<\/span> essay<\/span><\/a> \u201cCopyright as a Practice of Daily Life for Artists and Artist-Run Publishers\u201d describes this process clearly.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Online circulation<\/b><\/h2>\n

When legal issues are properly considered, the spectrum of possibility for online dissemination is quite broad. Options include making documents available on an artist-run centre\u2019s website, on social media platforms, on a digital repository such as<\/span> e-artexte<\/span><\/a>, or via platforms such as<\/span> Wikimedia Commons<\/span><\/a> and<\/span> Internet Archive<\/span><\/a>. Initiatives like<\/span> Matricules<\/span><\/a> (Studio XX),<\/span> D\u00e9cades<\/span><\/a> (Optica\u2014whose<\/span> archival fonds are also stored at Concordia University)<\/span><\/a>, and<\/span> Activating the Archive<\/span><\/a> (grunt gallery) are just a few examples of how ARCs have spotlighted their organizations\u2019 archives and documents.<\/span><\/p>\n

If you are interested in exploring such possibilities for your organization, we recommend starting by assessing what kinds of documents you have and selecting which ones you\u2019d like to make available. The following questions will help guide you through this process:<\/span><\/p>\n