The Order of Images

Our changed visual practices make the photo album – as a physical object – appear historical nowadays. Perhaps this also partly explains the growing interest in its value as source and research material, especially in cultural studies and the humanities. Recent approaches no longer focus on the pictures themselves, but increasingly on the album itself as an organising principle and narrative form. For photo albums hold the potential to communicate more than the sum of their parts. In their arranging, labelling, omitting, and overwriting, they disclose practices related to photographs, open up interpretations and perspectives, and speak of biographical and cultural self-conceptions. Access to the material, however, often depends on chance. There is currently no institution in the German-speaking world that systematically collects photo albums. On the other hand, many museums have holdings with little to no documentation on their origin and context. Additionally, the conservation of photo albums is still in its infancy. How can we deal with this situation? The workshop explores museum strategies for treating the photo album as a complex, hybrid object. We shall discuss the significance of albums today in the context of collections, how they can be arranged in the framework of exhibitions, and how they can be presented in digital and visitor-friendly ways. How can we succeed in seeing the album not as a neutral container, but rather as an object with its own unique order?