12th cei venice forum for contemporary art curators: topic
Criteria of Memoria. Navigating Memory and Preservation in Contemporary Art.
12th CEI Venice Forum for Contemporary Art Curators. Continental Breakfast 2026.
Venice, Academy of Fine Arts, Academy Auditorium, Fondamenta Zattere Allo Spirito Santo 423,
Friday, 8 May 2026 [2:00–6:00 pm]
Criteria of Memoria. Navigating Memory and Preservation in Contemporary Art
In recent decades, the art world has witnessed a significant and rapid increase in the creation of artefacts and art-related projects, leading to an overwhelming abundance of cultural material that challenges traditional modes of preservation and archiving.
Archiving is a critical and active process in this context. It involves not only the collection and storage of materials but also the careful organization, categorization, and contextualization that enable artworks and cultural objects to be accessed and understood by future generations. Yet, archiving is inherently selective and shaped by social, cultural, and institutional values that influence which narratives are preserved and which are marginalized or forgotten.
What criteria guide decisions about which materials/works are deemed worthy of archival?
How do societies and/or institutions negotiate the boundaries between memory and oblivion, selecting what to commemorate and what to let fade?
What is selected for commemoration, what is preserved for future access, and what is allowed to disappear all reflect underlying values and power structures shaping collective memory.
We invite you to share, discuss and engage in a dialogue about the processes behind curation, preservation, and the legacy of cultural artefacts, and of course, models of making new projects and new understanding of things.
By interrogating these critical questions, we wish to understand better the construction of memory in contemporary art and its role in shaping historical consciousness.
Janka Vukmir
Convenor, 2026 CEI Venice Forum for Contemporary Art Curators