Seventeenth International Conference on the Inclusive Museum

Abstract

Collecting Otherwise, a long-term research project at Nieuwe Instituut (Rotterdam), is currently in the process of developing a methodological tool; The Asterisk* that addresses and responds to the need for a more thorough, critical, and contextualised way of describing archival objects through New Key Words, Collection Metadata, and Stories. The tool can be utilized on a wide range of sensitive items, taking into account cultural sensitivity regarding provenance, various modes of acquisition, cultural or societal representations, and non-dominant voices. At its current stage, the Asterisk* project intends to rethink and reinterpret Nieuwe Instituut’s existing collection, increase transparency about what was collected, experiment with new approaches to the collection, tell various stories about and across its contents, and create a methodology that can contribute to a more contextualized heritage practice in an ever-changing society. Methodological and process development and testing on the collection platform began in 2023, and the project will be officially launched in November 2024, alongside the Nieuwe Instituut’s new collection platform. Asterisk* Project Manager Anya (Anna) Naumova will offer ways for turning such a project into a process and fostering more critical archiving in institutions and with its archival communities. Lois Hutubessy, Collection System Manager, will give an insight in the team’s technical journey to develop polyvocal inclusion in the Nieuwe Instituut collection using LOD (Link Open Data) and CMS (Content Management System). Collecting Otherwise draws on the Nieuwe Instituut’s architecture collection to study alternative architectural, heritage, and archival practises that reflect a changing society.