DIY Archive

From 2 November 2013 to 2 July 2017 the DIY archive was part of the exhibition of the collection The Collection Now. The archive was a combination of a storage facility, a workplace and an exhibition space. Visitors were invited to start work themselves, related to the real works of art in the collection dating from between 1965 and 1985, such as works by Andy Warhol, Richard Long, Gilbert and George, Richard Hamilton and Barry Flanagan.

The real works of art could be taken from the racks and placed in a temporary exhibition made by the visitors themselves, together with our own employees. Visitors were given the opportunity to look in the crates in storage containing small art objects and art books, and were permitted to root around in the video archives.

Apart from being able to start working in the Archive every day, visitors were given an extra introduction to the DIY Archive every Saturday and Sunday. They were able to peep behind the scenes in the museum, obtain information about the conservation and management of the artworks and create their own exhibitions with real works from the collection under the supervision of the museum employees.

After making their own exhibition under the supervision of one of the employees, visitors could submit a proposal, together with an explanation, to the museum. Once a year the museum selected a number of presentations from all the proposals, and these were displayed in the display cases on the wall of the archive.

The DIY Archive was also used during school visits. Following a short introduction, the children were allowed to choose their favorite work of art and then make an exhibition together. This could also be done on the basis of a particular theme. There was then a joint discussion about the selection that was made. In this way the children practiced reflecting on and analyzing the process.