Fotografisk samtidsdokumentasjon i museene: behov for nye praksiser?

Abstract

The starting point for this paper is the practice, in Norwegian cultural historical museums, of documenting contemporary daily life: more specifically, through photography. We outline various reasons for and methods of such documentation, focusing on three specific case studies, dating from 1999 to the present day, and particularly on the various collection management practices in these cases. Our focus is especially on the tension between creating contemporary documentation for specific outwards-focused projects, mainly exhibitions, and the wish to keep the resulting material available for future generations. We discuss image selection, registration, and publication of contemporary daily life documentation photographs. In each case study, we find that the museums are left with a surplus of images: photographs that, for a multitude of reasons, are not accessioned into the collections, yet remain physically or digitally in the museum’s ownership.