Abstract

As a transnational network of scholars, curators, archivists, and photography
practitioners, Museum Dialogues has become a dynamic discursive platform for
sharing expertise in collecting and exhibiting photography. The network explores how shifts in institutional practices globally influence the appreciation of photographic cultures, and how museums need to adapt to today’s evolving image economy by embracing new technologies and modes of dissemination while critically addressing their cultural and economic impact. Discussions have highlighted that many institutions face infrastructural challenges in representing diverse photographic cultures and accommodating the material fluidity of contemporary photographic imagery, suggesting a need to rethink normative curatorial approaches to collecting, accessioning, and presenting photographic works. This introductory presentation seeks to contextualise the conference discussions, including, but not limited to, the passages of photographic images across the museum, the library, and the archive; the institutionalisation of vernacular practices; complications of digital and analogue acquisitions; and ways that institutions can leverage photography to engage different
publics and co-create cultural heritage archives.