Archives

Participating archives

Over 20 archives from different parts of the world took part in the first movement of the project, gathering in Lisbon in March 2026 for four days of exchange, reflection and collective thinking.

As the project enters its second phase, 10 selected archives will host an artist residency dedicated to exploring and developing strategies that help archival spaces remain resistant and resilient in the face of external pressures.

An open call, to be published at the end of April, will invite artists from around the world to apply for a residency at one of the following cultural archives:

Acervo Bajubá

Brazil

Acervo Bajubá is a community project dedicated to recording the memories of Brazilian LGBT+ communities. Its goal is to create a collection dedicated to the preservation, safeguarding, and historiographic study of LGBT+ art, memory, and culture. In addition to bringing together a collection of items that document sexual diversity and the plurality of gender expressions and identities in Brazil, Bajubá collaborates with exhibitions, training, and projects focused on the production, mediation, and circulation of narratives about the histories of LGBT+ people. By developing mediation activities and workshops to engage with the collection, the group of educators and researchers associated contribute to the maintenance of the project, restoration of materials, and continuation of research.

The ArQuives

Canada

The ArQuives - Canada's LGBTQ2+ Archive is one of the largest independent 2SLGBTQIA+ archives in the world. The ArQuives’ mandate is to acquire, organize, and preserve materials in any medium by and about 2SLGBTQIA+ people in Canada. They provide public programming and access to information to promote greater awareness of 2SLGBTQIA+ histories and scholarship. Through hiring practices, volunteer outreach, outreach to communities underrepresented in their collections, funding new community-driven projects, and community-specific programming, The ArQuives strives to ensure that systemic forms of marginalization do not continue and strives for a future world where 2SLGBTQIA+ people are accepted, valued, and celebrated.

China Modern Art Archive

China

China Modern Art Archive (ACAC) from Peking University in China is committed to collecting and archiving contemporary literature and historical materials related to various themes on China and around the world, and providing open and diverse forms of literature services to the academic community and various sectors of society. It is a non-profit organization which relies solely on limited institutional support from the university and individual donations.

Documenta Archiv

Germany

Founded in 1961 to provide the artistic directors of the documenta with an institution dedicated to preservation and memory, documenta archiv is devoted to collecting, documenting, and researching texts, images, and objects related to modern and contemporary art. As a living repository of knowledge and a place of research and mediation, it houses a library on the arts of the 20th and 21st centuries that is unique in the German-speaking world.

Arsenal Filminstitut

Germany

The mission of Arsenal – Institut für Film und Videokunst is to communicate film culture, develop discursive formats, and foster exchange between film, art, and academia. Arsenal maintains a film archive with 10.000 titles and runs the participatory archival initiative Living Archive, which rethinks archival work as an artistic and collaborative practice. At the core of this work is critical reflection on the category of film heritage in relation to the history of political and aesthetic movements as well as to the history of colonialism and migration.

Kurdistan Centre for Arts & Culture

Iraq

Kurdistan Center for Arts & Culture (KCAC) is an organization based in Erbil dedicated to building an inclusive global community that celebrates, preserves, and promotes Kurdistan’s heritage, culture, and art. In Iraq, the Kurds are a sizeable minority who have been persecuted, with thousands killed under the rule of late dictator Saddam Hussein and many of their historic documents have been lost or destroyed. After the US-led invasion of 2003 toppled the Iraqi leader, remaining documents were scattered among libraries and universities or held in private collections.

Imagine IC & The Need for Legacy

Netherlands

A mix between archive, museum and meeting place, Imagine IC pioneers participatory collecting practices, inviting networks to co‑create ensembles that reflect lived experiences often absent from traditional archives and collections. They advocate for heritage democracy, believing that it "represents what we want to carry into the future" and everyone should have a say in it. At Imagine IC, collecting is an ongoing group process of identifying, discussing, annotating, presenting, challenging and discarding. They organize roundtables and gatherings holding heritage discussions about themes relevant to the neighborhood and the city as insights to what urban coexistence looks like, highlighting phenomena, bringing together perspectives, memories and meanings shared by people.

The Need for Legacy is an organization that makes the legacies of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and Other People ofColor) performing artists visible and accessible to a broad audience, makers, scholars and students. The organization recognizes that valuable stories and creators of color are often marginalized due to a lack of context and categorization, leading to distorted representation. With the innovative platform The House of Legacies, The Need for Legacy aims to make the histories of performing arts of color within a Dutch context widely accessible.

VEHA Archive

Poland

The VEHA Archive is an independent digital archive dedicated to 20th-century vernacular photography from Belarus, drawing on materials from diverse family archives. Its team conducts visual research into the history of everyday life and complement this work with artistic practices as a mode of engagement and interpretation, exploring social and cultural practices that are rarely included in official historical narratives.

National Museum of Contemporary Art

Portugal

The National Museum of Contemporary Art (MNAC) holds a significant collection of Portuguese art from 1850 to the present, featuring painting, sculpture, photography, installation, and new media. It operates as an open and dynamic institution dedicated to preserving, researching, and promoting contemporary art while encouraging critical reflection and diverse artistic perspectives. Alongside its artworks, the museum maintains extensive documentation that supports research and knowledge production. Under its current direction, the MNAC embraces a feminist-informed and community‑focused curatorial approach, positioning itself as a living space for thought, dialogue, and cultural transformation.

South African History Archive

South Africa

The South African History Archive (SAHA) was established by anti-apartheid activists in the 1980s, and was closely connected in its formative years to the United Democratic Front, the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the African National Congress. It is an independent human rights archive dedicated to documenting, supporting and promoting greater awareness of past and contemporary struggles for justice through archival practices and outreach, and the utilisation of access to information laws. They´re commited to raising awareness, both nationally and internationally, of the role of archives and documentation in promoting and defending human rights.