SBMK day & OH-SMArt Symposium 2024
The Artist Interview Revisited:
FAIR use of Artist Interviews for Conservators and Curators

Friday 29 November 2024
De Brug, Roeterseilandcampus, UvA

Oral history is vital for the management and conservation of modern and contemporary art. Almost 25 years ago, SBMK and ICN (now part of the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands) started the Artist Interview pilot project as one of the key outcomes of the groundbreaking project and symposium Modern Art: Who Cares? The resulting book, The Artist Interview, is still used for conducting interviews. Yet, making artist interviews accessible has been out of focus for a long time. It lacks appeal, requires more time, precision and expertise than is often available and is therefore often omitted.

Is the interview recorded? Was it quickly recorded with a smartphone or more professional equipment? Are the recordings still viewable or listenable, even years later? Are they reusable for digital research methods? How do you transcribe them, and how does this affect our understanding of the information it contains? Is there a record of secondary communication like the speaker's tone, speaking speed, body language and pauses? The degree of annoyance, haste, joy, posture, doubt or thinking also provides all kinds of information. And last but not least: can the information also be read, heard or viewed by external parties or later generations? Have arrangements been made to share the interview?

This is the theme of the SBMK day 2024, organised together with the University of Amsterdam in connection with the three-year project Oral History – Stories at the Museum around Artworks (OH-SMArt 2022-2025). This project focuses on the accessibility, sustainability and reusability of interviews in museums at the national level, allowing for the proper care of collection pieces with the correct data attached. This information must be stored a way that allows for a problem-free interchange between different systems that fulfils the UNESCO's FAIR Data Principles: Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable. Under the leadership of Sanneke Stigter, this OH-SMArt project is carried out by University of Amsterdam in cooperation with Sound & Vision, DANS-KNAW, University of Twente and various museums and SBMK partners. Funding is from The Platform for the Digital Infrastructure of Social Science and Humanities.

As well as our Dutch colleagues, German, Austrian, British and US heritage professionals will talk about their experiences, methods and techniques for storing interviews while making them accessible. The day will therefore be mainly in English. The morning will be composed of a plenary with several presentations / lectures while the afternoon will include several workshops to choose from.

On Thursday 28 November, prior to the SBMK day, there will be an expert meeting. This will be followed by an on-site presentation at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam by guest speakers Ursula Davila-Villa and Miranda Samuels on the artwork of Cecilia Vicuña. For this event there are no places left. The findings of the expert meeting will be included in the SBMK day.

Costs
The SBMK day and OH-SMArt symposium 2024 costs € 125 excluding VAT, or € 60 excluding VAT for students. The day is free* for some museum employees who pay an annual contribution to the SBMK (see funding for conditions).

Interested in attending? Register using this form. Registration for the workshops will be done at the event. The on-site presentation after the expert meeting at Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam on Thursday 28 November at 16:30 is free of charge. (FULL)


*Due to the inclusion of lunch and drinks, free participants from partners may only cancel free of charge up to three days in advance. After that, a fee of € 50 per participant will be charged.