OpenIdea_103 From Archive to Activation: Designing the Future of Artistic Legacies

What can you expect?

The preservation of contemporary art differs fundamentally from traditional conservation models. As many works are process-based, media-dependent, or conceptually open-ended, boundaries between artwork and documentation increasingly blur. Sketches, instructions, digital files, and installation views often become integral to a work’s meaning and future activation. Preservation therefore extends beyond material care to include the transfer of contextual and embodied knowledge.

This lecture approaches preservation as continuous creation rather than static maintenance. Drawing on the experience of caring for the estate of Anna Oppermann caretaker, it reflects on intergenerational knowledge transfer and offers insights into her retrospective at the Bundeskunsthalle Bonn. Framing preservation as a design and communication process, the talk proposes new perspectives on sustaining and activating artistic legacies.

Speaker: Anna Schäffler is an art historian, author and curator. Her research on the contemporary preservation of art and cultural assets includes theory and practice at the intersection of art history, conservation, and curating. She advises artists, private and public institutions on long-term preservation strategies. In addition to artistic estates, another focus of Anna's interests is on commons in the context of art, activism, and urban development. She curated the exhibition "Anna Oppermann. A Retroperspective" at Bundeskunsthalle Bonn in 2023. Her most recent books include "Die Kunst der Erhaltung. Anna Oppermanns Ensebmels, zeitgenössische Restaurierung und Nachlasspraxis im Wandel" (Munich 2021) and "Networks of Care. Politics of Preserving and Discarding" (Berlin 2022).

Event language

German

Audience

All interested parties are warmly invited to participate.

Participation 

Participation in the event is free of charge and no registration is required.

Details of the event

With the OpenIdea event series, the FHV's InterMedia degree programme invites you to an open discussion round in which exciting and diverse topics in the field of Design and Design are highlighted. International guests from a wide range of fields offer inspiring insights and encourage discussion. The focus will be on social & design, cultural and artistic aspects, Business and Management issues, technological developments and media strategies and their impact. OpenIdea offers a platform for interdisciplinary exchange and creates space for stimulating discussions about current challenges and trends. The event takes place several times a year and invites students, experts and interested parties to debate the future of Design together.