THE ARCHIVE OF IRISH CONTEMPORARY PHOTOGRAPHY
The national collection at Photo Museum Ireland
Collection Acquisition Policy and Guidelines
This Policy was developed by the Collections Committee convened by the Trustees of the Photo Museum Ireland (the “Museum”)
Background
The Archive of Irish Contemporary Photography Collection Policy 2024 - 2028 Policy No: 1Version No: 1. Date Approved: 15.11.23 Approved By: Board of Trustees
Review Period: 5 YearDivision Responsible: Collections & Learning. Implementation Date: 01.01.24 Review Date: 15.11.27
Background
Founded in 1978, Photo Museum Ireland is the leading voice for photography in Ireland. The establishment of the Archive of Irish Contemporary Photography (the “Collection”) builds on the work of the Museum in supporting and promoting photography since 1978. It has been a key strategic objective of the organisation since 2015. It develops the Museum’s main objective, articulated in its 2021 Constitution, to forward the promotion of the visual arts, with a focus on photography, for the benefit of people throughout Ireland and abroad. As a registered charity under the Charities Act 2009, the Museum is fully committed to achieving this main objective.
Purpose of the Collection
The Archive of Irish Contemporary Photography aims to establish an Artists’ Archive comprised of portfolio prints and records that will preserve and promote important series of works of key modern and contemporary Irish photographic artists and other artists working in Ireland. It establishes a permanent photographic archive that offers an authoritative overview of modern and contemporary Irish photography practices - making it available for the public to enjoy now and in the future. The establishment of the Collection is central to the Museum’s goal of establishing a museum-standard space for photography and to its work in fostering awareness, understanding and critical engagement with the art of photography.
Guiding Principles
The Collection is an Artists’ Archive that establishes a creative repository for the preservation and mediation of photographic prints produced and stored to archival standards.
The aim is to build an archival repository comprised of portfolio records featuring key series of bodies of work by artists as opposed to one-off, single-framed artworks or finished ‘pieces’
The aim of the portfolio sets is to reflect important artistic' practices across the span of the artist's career. It aims to preserve and promote the work of photographers in Ireland honouring past generations and recognising the achievements of modern and contemporary Irish artists and artists working in Ireland.
It aims to reflect changing social movements and artistic practices through the acquisition of items that reflect an awareness of the evolving context, medium and time in which they are made.
It will seek to put in place archival systems and will work with artists and estates to ensure that the work is securely preserved for the benefit of individual artists and for the benefit of the public.
Subject to agreed arrangements with the artists or their representatives, be made available to curators, researchers and the wider public through online Museum features, seminars, exhibitions or publications, creating an educational and historical resource for the future understanding of photographic practices in Ireland.
The portfolio sets are digitally prepared and produced by Photo Museum Ireland in agreement with each artist - except by arrangement
Each artist will approve the agreed set of prints prior to formal accession.
Artists and/or their representatives will be paid for their photographs, in line with the Museum’s ongoing commitment to paying artists fairly.
Artists will be consulted to assess the archival capacity of their prints and inform the development of the Collection.
The Collection will be developed in consultation with artists to include other materials, including negatives, transparencies, plates and digital images, where appropriate.
The Collection will be developed over the coming years following the Museum Standards Programme for Ireland guidelines in line with Photo Museum Ireland Artistic and EDI policies..
The initial set of prints was produced by the Museum for the launch exhibition in 2022. Subject to sign-off and approval by the artists, these high-grade archival quality prints were formally acquired for the Collection. Each artist was paid for the print if it was not gifted.
This Artists’ Archive is a cultural and heritage photographic resource that is held in trust for the people of Ireland and the artists concerned and/or their representatives.
Guiding Curatorial Principles - Framing Critical Practice in Ireland
The curatorial choices are based on the excellence of the artist’s overall practice, subject to the following guidelines:
The artist’s practice shows excellence in artistic ambition and achievement and is worthy of preservation.
The artist’s practice resonates powerfully with a particular subject, theme, issue history, or set of ideas.
The artist’s practice complements the existing Collection or has a scope beyond existing items in the Collection.
The artist’s practice may have developed or be developing new ways of thinking or working or may trigger re-evaluation of received narratives, or document new chapters of artistic innovation.
The Museum will actively seek to reflect our organisation's Equality, Diversity and Inclusion policy and procedures within the Collection to reflect a more inclusive and diverse view of Irish society.
The Museum will actively seek to include a diverse range of artists in the Collection and represent a broad range of artists across the span of their careers.
The ambition for most new acquisitions will be to include them in the ongoing displays of the Collection, whether by physical exhibition or digital means.
Scope and development of the Archive
The collection is being developed as a series of artists’ portfolio sets which includes prints. The average of the series of prints size is A2.
The management of the collection is informed by Museum Standards Programme of Ireland recommendations and builds the audit on our collection by Archives Ireland - specialists in the field, commissioned in August 2023.
The collection is housed in a separate locked storage space on archival shelves.
Prints are held in individual archive portfolio boxes - with a box per artist/series.
Each print is securely housed in archival sheets.
HVAC air conditioning system is being installed in Q4 2023
As the Collection develops and, subject to increased storage and archiving facilities becoming available, it will include photographic images, negatives, transparencies and digital photographic images and ephemera that fill gaps in the existing holdings or otherwise enliven elements of the history of modern and contemporary photography that are not already represented in the Collection. The Collection will not initially include cameras, lenses, photographic enlargers, darkroom equipment, film projectors, and objects relating to motion picture history. The Collection may, however, evolve over time to include such items for their educational value. The overall size and scope of the Collection are dependent on the level of physical, financial and human resources available to the Museum.
Methods of Acquisition
Acquisition proposals can be initiated by the Museum or by an offer being made by an artist or the artist’s representative.
Acquisition proposals are processed, in accordance with the guidelines set out above, by specialist in-house Curators/Directors with input from one or more of the panel of External Curatorial Advisors shown on the last page of this document.
Acquisition proposals are submitted to the Acquisitions Committee of the Museum, set out below, for approval. The Acquisitions Committee can delegate approval for smaller acquisitions, in specified circumstances, to the Acquisition Committee or staff members.
Merit, relevance, price, availability, provenance, condition and good title must be satisfactorily ascertained before work is put to the Acquisitions Committee for final approval.
Acquisitions are made by purchase, commission, donation, heritage donations in lieu of tax under Revenue rules, bequest or pledged gifts or by long-term loans.
Gifts and bequests will be considered under the same criteria as purchases and commissions. The Museum will not typically accept restrictions or conditions on gifts and bequests unless they are objectively justified.
The Museum uses revenue raised from philanthropic donations to fund purchases from artists.
Any acquisition either by purchase or by gift is subject to having the Transfer Agreements signed by both parties.
The Transfer Agreement will make provision for the appropriate rights of the artist, the artist’s representative and the Museum.
In the majority of cases, the works are produced and printed by Photo Museum Ireland under the supervision of the artists.
Priorities for Acquisition
When assessing possible additions to the Collection, the Museum is not only acquiring for the present but framing the future context for Irish photographic art.
The highest priority for acquisition is photography by Irish photographic artists shown and supported by the Museum since 1978.
As the Collection develops it will set out to complement and support the collecting of artists’ photographic works by other relevant institutions such as the National Gallery of Ireland, Butler Gallery, National Museum of Ireland, IMMA, Limerick City Museum of Art, the Hugh Lane Museum and other leading arts institutions.
The Museum will actively seek opportunities to include artists currently being overlooked in other collections.
The Museum will aim to represent a broad cross-section of artists including emerging Irish photographers.
Access Standards
The Museum is developing the Collection in tandem with its application for accreditation under the Museum Standards Programme for Ireland (“MSPI”) . The Museum has consulted with the MSPI in advance of initiating this Collection. The Museum will ensure that the Collection is developed to professional museum standards. In 2023 we recruited a specialist with expertise in collection management and archiving - Brendan Maher.
Brendan has devised best practice policies and procedures to implement the management, cataloguing and care of the Collection to museum standards. This in turn increases the Museum’s ability to make it more accessible to the public. The Museum will continue to consult with its External Archival Advisors listed below as the Collection is developed. The Collection is made available to the public online (read-only low-res files on our website). Selected works are featured in public in-house and touring exhibitions from time to time.
The following is the structure of the parties involved with the creation, development and maintenance of the Collection:
Patron: Michael D Higgins, President of Ireland
Collections Committee Members - Trustees of the Museum: Luke Gibbons, Stephanie McBride, Audrey Brennan, Orla Fitzpatrick, Tom Burke and William Fagan, Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Museum.
In-House Curators: Tanya Kiang, Trish Lambe and Darren Campion
Registrar and Collection Care Manager: Brendan Maher
External Curatorial Advisors:
Photography Sector: Frits Gierstberg, Netherlands Photo Museum; Tracy Marshall Grant, independent curator / Northern Narratives; Oliver Sears, Oliver Sears Museum, Dublin; Herman Seidl, Fotohof Galerie & Archive, Salzburg and Pauline Vermare - Curator, writer and photo historian
External Archival Advisors: Shirley Clerkin - advisor on sustainable practices; Caroline Carr - advisor on Museum standards and systems: Brendan Maher - advisor on photo archiving and collections management.
*Update to name change applied to policy 15 November 2023 - Approved by the Board of Trustees