and combined in the interactive environment of a game-engine. Within
this virtual realm, the archive emerges gradually as an open, experiential
'scaffold', through process-oriented and narrative-driven strategies of 3D
capture and assembly.

BETWEEN MEDIUM AND PRACTICE:
ASSOCIATING PSYCHOGEOGRAPHY TO 3D SCANNING

A first reply is explored in following, with two elements of this proposal –
psychogeography and 3D scanning – briefly examined. The intention here is
to make space for conceptual reflection, before crystallising the format into
a linear description and a mediated workflow.<fnref n="4" /> In this initial overview, the
format’s elements may fluidly interact and associate, echoing the aquatic
origins<fnref n="5" /> of the *dérive*.<fnref n="6" />

Psychogeography itself has been described not so much as a field, but ‘as
the traversing of one’,<fnref n="7" /> crossing a wide spectrum of disciplines, yet pledging
a clear allegiance to none.<fnref n="8" /> This is also how it is considered in the present
paper—beyond the attempted scientific purity of the Situationist canon<fnref n="9" />—as
the interwoven tale of previous literary movements and traditions,<fnref n="10" /> histories
of walking<fnref n="11" /> and associated forms of artistic practice.<fnref n="12" /> A common thread
across this tale is the urge to directly engage with the urban environment
through the act of walking its streets—yet not through prescribed pathways
and territories, but embracing instead practices that cover the spectrum
from imaginary, random and unconscious, to subversive and transformative.
For each of these practices, a form of documentation accompanies the
walker, ranging from collage<fnref n="13" /> to street photography<fnref n="14" /> and film.<fnref n="15" /> It is this
tradition of documentation that 3D scanning will endeavour here to continue,
not only as a technological possibility, but as a practice of representation.

Evolving steadily since the second half of the 20th century,<fnref n="16" /> 3D scanning
refers to the process of analysing a real-world object or environment with
the purpose of creating a digital, three-dimensional representation, usually
recreating the geometry and texture information of its original. This on-going
development not only increased the accuracy and diversity of 3D scanning
technologies, but also contributed to their democratisation,<fnref n="17" /> with techniques
like photogrammetry and LiDAR<fnref n="18" /> currently available through a multitude of
mobile phone applications. Within archive practices, 3D scanning weaves
into the broader thread of digitising cultural heritage,<fnref n="19" /> enabling new ways of
making it accessible.<fnref n="20" /> In the field of architecture, its broad use includes site
inspection and documentation,<fnref n="21" /> restoration, virtual exhibitions,<fnref n="22" /> as well as
spatial analysis<fnref n="23" /> and forensic investigation.

Yet, so far this is a tale of application and efficacy, and for the proposed
format it is not what 3D scanning can do, but how that matters. Recognised
as a technological *détournement*, 3D scanning workflows can be
paraphrased to offer results that are highly subjective and considerably
different from the originally captured form.<fnref n="24" /> This is particularly the case
with photogrammetry and LiDAR scanning techniques, where the speed,
direction and pathway of capture can lead both to the *accidental* inclusion
of fragments in the digital form and the *intentional* fusion between
captured subject and surrounding space.<fnref n="25" /> Interpreting this process from
a psychogeographic point of view, 3D scanning is considered here as
a poetic practice of documentation and movement, whose own rhythm and
duration matches the step of the prospective *flâneur*. According to Larousse,
the verb *flâner* refers to the act of 'wandering without aim, stopping once
in a while to look around'.<fnref n="26" /> It is through this lingering time of observation

<footnote n="4">4 For as Donna Haraway argues, 'it matters what stories we tell to tell other stories with; it matters what concepts we think to think other concepts with.' See Ursula K. Le Guin, Lee Bul, and Donna Haraway, *The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction* (London: Ignota, 2019), 10.</footnote>

<footnote n="5">5 McKenzie Wark, *The Beach beneath the Street: The Everyday Life and Glorious Times of the Situationist International*, Paperback edition (London New York: Verso, 2015), 22.</footnote>

<footnote n="6">6 Guy Debord, "Theory of the Dérive," in Knabb, *Situationist International Anthology*, 62–66.</footnote>

<footnote n="7">7 Will Self, "The Frisson," *London Review of Books*, 20 January 2014, https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v36/n02/will-self/the-frisson.</footnote>

<footnote n="8">8 Rebecca Solnit, *Wanderlust: a History of Walking* (London: Granta, 2014), 4.</footnote>

<footnote n="9">9 In 1955 Debord defined Psychogeography as 'the study of the precise laws and specific effects of the geographical environment, consciously organised or not, on the emotions and behaviour of individuals.' See Debord, "Introduction to a Critique of Urban Geography," 5.</footnote>

<footnote n="10">10 Merlin Coverley, *Psychogeography*, Revised and updated new edition (Harpenden: Oldcastle Books, 2018), 13–18.</footnote>

<footnote n="11">11 I refer here to Rebecca Solnit's narrative of how walking transcends the history of evolution and anatomy to enter the history of imagination and culture. See Solnit, *Wanderlust*, 3–4.</footnote>

<footnote n="12">12 Karen O'Rourke, *Walking and Mapping: Artists as Cartographers*, First MIT Press paperback edition, Leonardo (Cambridge, Massachusetts London, England: The MIT Press, 2016), 1–26.</footnote>

<footnote n="13">13 Thomas F. McDonough, "Situationist Space," *October* 67 (1994): 59–77, https://www.jstor.org/stable/778967.</footnote>

<footnote n="14">14 Susan Sontag, *On Photography* (S.I.: RosettaBooks, 2020), 42–43.</footnote>

<footnote n="15">15 An example here is the filmography of Patrick Keiller. See Coverley, *Psychogeography*, 166–70.</footnote>

<footnote n="16">16 Varun Batra and Vijay Kumar, "Developments in Three-Dimensional Scanning Techniques and Scanners," in *Emerging Trends in Mechanical Engineering*, ed. L. M. Das et al., Lecture Notes in Mechanical Engineering (Singapore: Springer Singapore, 2021), 59–88, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-8304-9_5.</footnote>

<footnote n="17">17 Carlo Bianchini and Lorenzo Catena, “The Democratization of 3D Capturing: An Application Investigating Google Tango Potentials,” *International Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences* 13, No. 5 (April 2019): 594–8.</footnote>

<footnote n="18">18 Acronym of 'Light Detection and Ranging.' For a description of both techniques, see "3D Scanning," Wikipedia, last modified August 21, 2023, 15:53, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3D_scanning.</footnote>

<footnote n="19">19 Melissa Terras, “Cultural Heritage Information: Artefacts and Digitisation Technologies,” in *Cultural Heritage Information: Access and Management*, ed. G. G. Chowdhury and Ian Ruthven, IResearch (Facet, 2015), 63–88, https://doi.org/10.29085/9781783300662.005.</footnote>

<footnote n="20">20 Lise Skytte Jakobsen, “Flip-Flopping Museum Objects from Physical to Digital – and Back Again. Engaging Museum Users through 3D Scanning, 3D Modelling, and 3D Printing,” *Nordisk Museologi*, No. 1 (1 January 2016): 121, https://doi.org/10.5617/nm.3068.</footnote>

<footnote n="21">21 ‘3D Digital Archive – Nakagin Capsule Tower – gluon’, gluon, 24 July 2022, https://gluon.tokyo/en/projects/3d-digital-archive-nakagin-capsule-tower.</footnote>

<footnote n="22">22 “Bartlett Digital Exhibition Apps | University College London,” accessed August 25, 2023, https://scanlabprojects.co.uk/work/bartlett-digital-exhibition/.</footnote>

<footnote n="23">23 Arianna Salazar Miranda et al., “Favelas 4D: Scalable Methods for Morphology Analysis of Informal Settlements Using Terrestrial Laser Scanning Data,” *Environment and Planning B: Urban Analytics and City Science* 49, No. 9 (2022): 2345–62, https://doi.org/10.1177/23998083221080174.</footnote>

<footnote n="24">24 Jan Tepe, “WEARING DIGITAL BODIES: Designing and Experiencing Dress as Poly-Body Objects at the Intersection of the Physical and the Digital,” in *4th NTU-Conference-Proceedings* | IFFTI : International Foundation of Fashion Technology Institutes (Fashion Reimagine, Nottingham Trent University, 2022), 298–395, https://site.iffti.org/ntu-conference-proceedings/.</footnote>

<footnote n="25">25 The elements of randomness (Surrealists) and intentional rerouting (Situationists) have been a prominent part of different facets of psychogeography, and are explored here as a link between psychogeographic theory and the process of 3D scanning.</footnote>

<footnote n="26">26 Zygmunt Bauman, 'Desert Spectacular', in *The Flaneur (RLE Social Theory)*, ed. Keith Tester (Routledge, 2014), 138, https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315765389.</footnote>
and transcription, that the medium of 3D scanning becomes a part of this proposal, while a combination of photogrammetry and LiDAR techniques is chosen due to their availability and ease of use.<fnref n="27" />

## ACROSS DIFFERENT CONTEXTS AND TIMELINES: THE 'LUDIC' AS A CONNECTING THREAD

Attuned to both conceptual and practical facets of psychogeography,<fnref n="28" /> the proposed archive revisits them through the affordances of contemporary digital media; specifically, 3D scanning's ability to capture three-dimensional urban fragments and a game-engine's ability to re-assemble these fragments into a non-linear spatial narrative. Dispersed across different contexts and times, the link between psychogeographic practice and emerging digital media is formed through the concept of the ludic.

In his book *Homo Ludens*,<fnref n="29" /> Dutch historian, Johan Huizinga, established the role of play as a fundamental element of both culture and social life.<fnref n="30" /> In the second half of the 20th century, his ideas influenced the social dialogue in Europe, which sought ways to heal from the physical, mental and psychological impact of the second world war.<fnref n="31" /> In a parallel underground route, the concept of play also nurtured the thought of European avant-garde groups and their visions for a reality beyond the functionalist dogma.<fnref n="32" /> Notably, Huizinga's ideas contributed to Constant Nieuwenhuys' urban vision of the 'New Babylon', where play would be constitutional for the new urban experience; informing not only the newly-emerging urban ambiences (*Situations*), but also the urban form itself.<fnref n="33" /> The latter would be made possible through the future abilities of technology, envisioning the abstract scaffold-like form of a global city in constant flux.<fnref n="34" />

Along another timeline, Huizinga's work became central for a very different aspect of culture and technology, the development of game studies.<fnref n="35" /> His initial reference to a *magic circle*, as any predefined time / territory where the rules of a game apply,<fnref n="36" /> was further adapted at the end of the 20th c. for the field of digital games.<fnref n="37" /> Here, the rules-of-play were transcribed into a framework of game mechanics,<fnref n="38" /> which with the parallel rise of game-engines acquired an ontology of its own.<fnref n="39" /> The game-engine gradually transformed into a malleable scaffold itself, able to host ever changing fields of experience. Due to its ability to create high-resolution digital replicas of real-world objects and environments, 3D-scanned artefacts have long occupied these digital vistas. Yet, perhaps more importantly, a game-engine as a spatial medium may become the ground, where multiple narratives can simultaneously evolve in a non-linear fashion.<fnref n="40" /> This element associates game-engines to previous forms of psychogeographic documentation, like the digressive surrealist novels or the experience of navigating the city through a rerouted situationist map.<fnref n="41" />

## BETWEEN PHYSICAL EXPLORATION AND VIRTUAL NARRATIVE: THE ARCHIVE AS AN OPEN 'SCAFFOLD'

The three elements analysed so far form the constellation within which the proposed Archive is inscribed. To align their different facets towards a common process, three terms are appropriated from different fields of psychogeography, and are retoured to pave a workflow across analogue and digital realm. All three terms are kept in their original verb form, seeking to highlight both their previous context and the literal practice they represent. The corresponding workflow is briefly sketched below.

### Dériver:<fnref n="42" /> To Explore the Physical

The first phase invites the participants into an urban drift within different territories of the city, while also providing a hands-on introduction to psychogeographic practice. Therefore, it begins with a set-up of

<footnote n="27">27 Describing his vision for the ludic city of the future, Constant Nieuwenhuys writes, 'New Babylon is the product of the creativity of the masses, based on the activation of the enormous creative potential which at the moment lies dormant and unexploited in the people.' With a powerful medium for space representation available at each urban walker's pocket, Constant could well find a (distorted and partial) reply to his call. See Merijn Oudenampsen, "Back to the Future of the Creative City, An Archaeological Approach to Amsterdam's Creative Redevelopment," *Variant* 31, accessed August 25, 2023, https://romulusstudio.com/variant/31texts/31FutureCity.html.</footnote>

<footnote n="28">28 I refer here to psychogeography's ability to balance between the realm of ideas and the realm of practices, claiming that each of these two realms can be re-interpreted through emerging digital media. Its conceptual facets are expressed through psychography's ability to produce imaginary visions and conceptions of the urban, ranging from Blake's 'New Jerusalem' to Constant's 'New Babylon.' These visions are often intertwined with their contemporary realities, just like Blake described his imaginary city emerging from within London's topography. Combined with the practice of walking and urban documentation, 3D scanning is able to produce a new imaginary field—a fragmented, distorted and re-assembled vision of the urban. See Coverley, *Psychogeography*, 13, 41–44.</footnote>

<footnote n="29">29 Johan Huizinga, *Homo Ludens: a Study of the Play-Element in Culture* (Kettering, OH: Angelico Press, 2016).</footnote>

<footnote n="30">30 Stephen Grabow and Kent F. Spreckelmeyer, *The Architecture of Use: Aesthetics and Function in Architectural Design* (New York: Routledge, 2015), 51.</footnote>

<footnote n="31">31 Kristen Kubecka, "Homo Ludens: Play, Subversion, and the Unfinished Work of Constant's New Babylon," *Senior Projects Spring 2018*, 1 January 2018, 3–4, https://digitalcommons.bard.edu/senproj_s2018/156.</footnote>

<footnote n="32">32 Andrew Hussey, "Mapping Utopia: Debord and Constant between Amsterdam and Paris," in *Paris-Amsterdam Underground*, ed. Andrew Hussey and Christoph Lindner, *Essays on Cultural Resistance, Subversion, and Diversion* (Amsterdam University Press, 2013), 37–48, https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt6wp6td.7.</footnote>

<footnote n="33">33 Constant Nieuwenhuys, "Lecture at the ICA (1963)," in *Constant: New Babylon*, ed. Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (Madrid: Publications department of MNCARS, 2015), 198–201, https://www.museoreinasofia.es/en/publicaciones/constant-new-babylon.</footnote>

<footnote n="34">34 Simon Sadler, *The Situationist City*, 3. print (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2001), 127–32.</footnote>

<footnote n="35">35 "Magic Circle (Virtual Worlds)," in *Wikipedia*, 21 November 2021, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Magic_circle_(virtual worlds).</footnote>

<footnote n="36">36 Huizinga, *Homo Ludens*, 10.</footnote>

<footnote n="37">37 Katie Salen Tekinbaş and Eric Zimmerman, *Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals* (Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 2003), 93–94.</footnote>

<footnote n="38">38 Beat Suter, "Rules of Play as a Framework for the 'Magic Circle'," in *Games and Rules: Game Mechanics for the 'Magic Circle',* ed. René Bauer, Mela Kocher, and Beat Suter, *Media Studies*, volume 53 (Bielefeld: transcript Verlag, 2018), 23–24.</footnote>

<footnote n="39">39 "Game Engine," in *Wikipedia*, 22 August 2023, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_engine#History</footnote>

<footnote n="40">40 Beat Suter, "Narrative Patterns in Video Games," in *Narrative Mechanics: Strategies and Meanings in Games and Real Life*, ed. Beat Suter, René Bauer, and Mela Kocher, 1st ed., Vol. 82, Edition Medienwissenschaft (Bielefeld, Germany: transcript Verlag, 2021), 67–75, https://doi.org/10.14361/9783839453452.</footnote>

<footnote n="41">41 Sadler, *The Situationist City*, 82–89.</footnote>

<footnote n="42">42 Far from an act of 'sanitation,' the political dimension of the *dérive* remains deeply relevant to the subject of the Archive, yet this exceeds the narrative that the present paper can cover. I can only reiterate here Merlin Coverley's observation that across different eras and approaches of psychogeography, the imaginative reworking of the city was steadily coupled with a spirit of political alertness and the enactment of radically new ways of living. See Coverley, *Psychogeography*, 32.</footnote>
‘mental gear’: during the peripatetic exploration all participants are interconnected via a web-radio app<fnref n="43" /> and the workshop guide<fnref n="44" /> walks them through the routes and stories of either previous participants of this format or psychogeographic practitioners that are currently active in Berlin.<fnref n="45" /> Transitioning towards a more active part, three further steps are introduced to inspire a narrative-driven urban documentation: *return/depart-deviate-associate*. In a brief outline, this is a process that begins with the return to a selected territory in the city that fits a commonly defined theme, and it then develops into deviating pathways as the participants trace further associations upon this theme. During this process, different methods of 3D scanning are made available, helping them associate their narrative intention and desired qualities to their captured spatial fragments. In parallel, additional media of documentation are encouraged, including written notes, sketches and audio recordings.

Robinsonner:<fnref n="46" />

To Transcribe the Physical into the Virtual

This phase is devoted to the transcription of the gathered documentation into the environment of a game-engine, a process which begins for each participant with the curation of their gathered content. The 3D-scanned fragments are organised into a first digital assembly, while non-formal narratives are transformed into each fragments’ annotation. Combining subjective and objective descriptions, this narrative annotation becomes the corelated metadata of each formed assembly. In parallel, it serves as a navigation tool for the forming Archive as a whole, as it makes the content of each singular project accessible to others.

Flâner:<fnref n="47" />

To Explore the Virtual

The third phase celebrates the immersion within the virtual Archive across a palimpsest of different urban assemblies. The annotation of each individual project has contributed to a common diagram of qualities and concepts, forming a common, fragmented and ever-evolving urban narrative. This diagram becomes then a new exploration milieu, as different projects can

be associated to one another, allowing unique assemblies to emerge. Based on their semantic association, clusters of newly formed spatial narratives can then be commonly explored. This for example can take the form of a collective virtual dérive attended from different physical locations across the world.

AN OPEN-ENDED CONCLUSION:

FROM ASSOCIATED CONCEPTS TO EMERGING PRACTICES

Through the presented workflow, the initial triptych of psychogeographically-informed practices, *return/depart-deviate-associate*, gradually leads to the collection of narrative fragments, which in turn drive the assembly of virtual spaces. Thus, they enter anew the realm of experience, this time however not as a response to a physical space, but as the multitude of semantic<fnref n="48" /> nodes that formulate a virtual one. Reduced down to its core, the contribution of the proposed archive is the combination of the subjective and individual experience of the city with this abstract semantic representation, which may also be shared and experienced by others.

With this fusion, it might also contribute to an old contradiction: As Coverley notes, Debord's effort to transform psychogeography into a purely scientific discipline came in stark contrast with the subjective character of human emotion, while similar programmatic approaches failed to reach the imaginative reforming of the environment that marked pre-situationist movements and traditions.<fnref n="49" /> Through the described format, the archive emerges not as a rigid system, but as a malleable site. Like ebb and flow, the phases of (*dériver-robinsonner*) – allow the archive to iteratively condense and expand, while transforming it into the possible host of multiple micro-processes and interactions (– *flâner*). Its content could be perpetually edited, cross-referenced, explored from within and even performed. It could be constantly transformed and re-imagined.

On this basis, a first charting of potential is attempted, identifying emerging fields of practice that could further activate the proposed format:

> In view of the constantly increasing collections of digitised cultural artefacts across scales and typologies,<fnref n="50" /> what could be the contribution of such an archive in promoting the rise of architectural 3D-scanned collections, while critically navigating and sourcing new insight from their content?

<footnote n="43">43 On a parallel level, this is a reference to the use of walkie-talkies during the first Situationist dérives in Amsterdam and Strasbourg. See Kristin Ross and Henri Lefebvre, "Lefebvre on the Situationists: An Interview", *October* 79 (1997): 73, https://www.jstor.org/stable/778839.</footnote>

<footnote n="44">44 This term was consciously preferred over a description that would denote hierarchy, like 'workshop leader.'</footnote>

<footnote n="45">45 As is for example, Paul Scraton. See "Berlin Walks," *Under a Grey Sky* (blog), 23 February 2013, https://underagreysky.com/strolls-and-tours/.</footnote>

<footnote n="46">46 Robinson's figure is defined by Coverley as Flâneur's alter-ego, who, instead of the direct experience of the streets is traditionally associated with an imaginary or internalised journey. See Coverley, *Psychogeography*, 78-89.</footnote>

<footnote n="47">47 Preferred over its situationist alternative, as it is not so much attuned to the detection of urban ambience as to an alert, acute observation of its—in this case virtual—surroundings. Under the title, 'Flâneur VR,' the author has already proposed an XR exhibition format, utilising 3D scanning and focused on the correlation of analogue with digital materialities. See Kyrou, "Convergent Infrastructures," https://www.inkuele.de/inkuele-schriften-vortraege/details/convergent-infrastructures.</footnote>

<footnote n="48">48 The term 'semantic' is used here in the neurocognitive sense. See Mathias Benedek et al., 'The Role of Memory in Creative Ideation', *Nature Reviews Psychology* 2, No. 4 (27 February 2023): 246–57, https://doi.org/10.1038/s44159-023-00158-z.</footnote>

<footnote n="49">49 Coverley, *Psychogeography*, 27.</footnote>

<footnote n="50">50 Along with the UCL exhibition format that has been mentioned before, indicative is here the 3D-scanned artefact collection of the Smithsonian, featuring an eclectic amalgam of pop culture, history of space exploration, palaeontology and natural sciences. See "3D Digitisation," accessed August 25, 2023, https://3d.si.edu/.</footnote>
Informed by the emergence of contemporary initiatives which mix physical and virtual place-making,<fnref n="51" /> what could be the role of such an archive in promoting dialogue and awareness on the form of the urban environment and public spaces?

Inspired by the possibility of forming an active link between urban physical and urban virtual spaces, how could the proposed format contribute to a deeper understanding of different historical layers and improbable topographies within a city?<fnref n="52" />

At any application case, a diversity of view and the mixture of learning mindsets and communities is recognised as a crucial element. While the proposed archive can be collectively curated, it is nevertheless an assemblage that lays no claim to an undisputable truth. It aspires instead to the dissemination of multifaceted perspectives and the celebration of untold stories.

Echoing Ursula K. Le Guin's definition of the *carrier bag* as the primal technological tale,<fnref n="53" /> the final form of the archive emerges as both content and container, equally formed by spatial narratives and the technologies that enable their assembly. Based on a critical interpretation of emerging digital media and their association to practices past, it seeks to define an open and ever-evolving 'scaffold' for the reflection of the present; transforming the archive itself into a realm of urban reflection and collective exchange across the analogue and the virtual.

<figure><img src="image_24.png" /></figure>

<footnote n="51">51 I refer to initiatives, like Spectra Cities and InCitu. At the intersection of physical placemaking, virtual worldbuilding, and cooperative governance, Spectra Cities has developed an array of digital tools and platforms to explore people-powered city making across spatial realities. See Ryan Rzepecki et al., rep., *Spectra Whitepaper: Building a Sustainable, Livable, and Affordable City for 1 Million People Through Multilayer Blockchain Cooperatives and Extended Reality Experimentation*. (Spectra Cities, 2023), 11–10; “Papers | The City That Builds Cities,” Spectra, accessed August 25, 2023, https://www.spectracities.com/papers/.</footnote>

<footnote n="52">52 A reply to the latter will be explored by the author at the beginning of November 2023 in a collaboration with Prof. Pablo Dornhege (HTW Berlin). The first phase of the proposed format, *dériver*, will be applied as a daily workshop / urban walk for a transdisciplinary group of students, coming both from the Berlin University of the Arts (UdK) and the Berlin University of Applied Sciences (HTW).</footnote>

<footnote n="53">53 And therefore, echoing also Elizabeth Fisher's work, whose *Carrier Bag Theory of human evolution* inspired the concept's celebrated transcription by Le Guin into the field of serious fiction. See Le Guin, *The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction, 30–37; Elizabeth Fisher, “The Carrier Bag Theory of Evolution,” *Woman’s Creation: Sexual Evolution and the Shaping of Society*, 1st ed (Garden City, N.Y: Anchor Press, 1979), 61–56.</footnote>
<figure><img src="image_25.png" /></figure>

Dr. Yinka Williams, part of the research team in Nigeria, visiting the Michael Olutusi Onafowokan (1912–1991) archive in Lagos, preparing selections for digitisation. Courtesy of Dr. Yinka Williams and Onafowokan Cityscape Ltd.

Martien de Vletter (CCA)

# From Collecting to Connecting or How not to Collect

At the CCA (Canadian Centre for Architecture) we consider the Collection as a repository of ideas, provocations, inspirations, and trials and errors. The Collection documents the culture and production of architecture worldwide from the Renaissance through to the present day. It is made up of interrelated bodies of primary and secondary materials such as archival holdings, prints and drawings, photography, monographs and periodicals, audiovisual and (born)digital material, toys and games, miniatures, posters and postcards. However, for the CCA it has never been about what we have, but how to activate it considering current disciplinary and cultural issues. As contemporary issues are continuously changing, our thinking of how to activate the Collection is too.

The Collection, reflecting the institutional activities, included mainly (but certainly not only) materials from and about North America and Europe, while at the same time always addressing and seeing architecture from a transnational perspective. The Collection is not encyclopaedic, and we constantly reflect on priorities, geographies, and societal issues to be addressed, or reflecting on our own past actions. Our exhibitions and research projects often drive to rethink the Collection, or the other way around. In this paper I address the changing ideas on collecting itself based on our multidisciplinary research projects but will start with our changing ideas on descriptions and discovery, hence access to the Collection as the future of archives or collecting is based on questions of access.

In September 2020, the CCA began a Critical Cataloguing and a Reparative Description initiative to address issues of injustice and exclusion embedded in the descriptions of objects held in our collection.<fnref n="1" /> A group of CCA archivists, librarians, and curatorial staff reviews biased, inappropriate, harmful descriptions and classifications in the photography collection and our archival holdings. The goal is to develop inclusive description and metadata strategies that will improve discoverability of histories, narratives, and contexts that would otherwise not appear in object records.

One of the first steps towards addressing how the CCA, as a cultural institution, has been replicating or perpetuating colonial or settler dynamics is to identify and foreground voices and subjects that have not been recognised. And we believe that this entails reviewing and revising the longstanding practices we have used to describe works in our collection. These descriptions affect and even determine how collection objects are discovered and interpreted, both within and outside the CCA walls. Any bias

<footnote n="1">1 "Critical Cataloguing and Reparative Descriptions," Canadian Centre for Architecture, accessed August 18, 2023, https://www.cca.qc.ca/en/82982/critical-cataloguing-and-reparative-descriptions.</footnote>
embedded in the language and scope of descriptions, potentially including inequity and systemic racism, will therefore have an impact on the work they might help to generate. Descriptive practices are not neutral: what information is included in and excluded from collection descriptions is influenced by professional biases, national and international standards for creating metadata, and terminology that often conveys a particular world view.

Systemic biases are often evident in how information is classified – what subject headings are applied or how an object is catalogued in relation to other content. Whereas inappropriate language in an object description, in the title for example, may be due to a lack of knowledge on the part of the person who formulated the title, or simply because language has evolved, rather than necessarily problematic description practices. To this end, we expect to identify harmful language and to address absences and inadequacies of information.

A similar process is being applied to the descriptions of our archival holdings. We are in the process of developing new strategies and workflows to describe and contextualise the CCA archival holdings in a more inclusive and equitable way. We intend to challenge and upend our current standards across all aspects of the archival management lifecycle, from acquisition through to description to how we make our archives accessible with finding aids. While they can be great for discovery, like cataloguing and classifying, finding aids are deeply subjective and can perpetuate inequity and harm. We are using a mix of automated tools and manual reading to gather data about the use of harmful terminology, lack of contextual information and absences in our existing finding aids. This initial work will allow us to highlight the most urgent issues in our descriptions, so we can prioritise which edits must be made. The next step is to find meaningful approaches to redesigne our archival holdings to reduce harm for our public and reveal hidden voices within our archives. This work is especially pertinent for our Canadian holdings given the complex relationship between settlers and Indigenous communities in Canada.<fnref n="2" />

The work of Critical Cataloguing and Reparative Description should be seen in parallel with a more in-depth process of rethinking our Collection and collecting in general. The digital transformation at the CCA is allowing the institution to rethink many of its collecting processes. We question, if the role of the institution is still only to collect and give access, or if it also can be to research and give access.

## POST AND NON-CUSTODIALISM

When discussing with the scholars of the 'Centring Africa: Postcolonial Perspectives on Architecture'<fnref n="3" /> project in 2018 the question, if collecting material from the African continent was considered an ethical act or not, some of the scholars said it was unequivocally not. To some of them, extracting archives created in and about Africa and including them in the CCA's Collection will reiterate a colonial act. Even if the CCA is considered a 'safe haven' or even a way to salvage those archives, for some it could still constitute an unethical act. This led to a conversation on other possible models. Deposits is one model (wherein CCA would take care of materials but return them when possible and opportune, i.e., a new institution is created in place), and post-custodial care is another.

The post-custodial approach could take many different forms. The archival community for example is discussing if one way of understanding this approach could be for materials to remain in their place of origin while external archivists provide management oversight: this represents a shift from the custodial tradition, where records are maintained by Archives and Collection (institutions), to an alternative model where records are retained by their creator with Archives providing oversight and support functions. Although post-custodial theory asserts that archivists can no longer hold custody of all records that might come under their care, nor does the theory suggest that custody will totally disappear.

Digital technology presents an interesting opportunity for participatory and post-custodial approaches that seek to shift curatorial authority and access to the communities represented. In this model, archivists and curators work side-by-side with community members to actively close gaps in historical coverage and proactively document the present day. At the same time, digitised material has the potential to reach (other) audiences beyond the physical space of a study room or library.

A prominent and by now famous institutional example of this approach is the University of Texas libraries who partnered with organisations in several countries to digitally document human rights struggles, the records of which are often extremely fragile and susceptible to loss. This work includes the Human Rights Documentation Initiative,<fnref n="4" /> Genocide Archives Rwanda and the Digital Archive of the Guatemalan National Police Historical Archive.<fnref n="5" /> Archivists in the USA and Canada are also collaborating with data scientists and many others to archive vulnerable government data related to climate change (the Environmental Data & Governance Initiative Archiving Data<fnref n="6" />) and other areas

<footnote n="2">2 In April 2021, the CCA formed an internal Land Acknowledgment Working Group. The group is made up of staff members from diverse backgrounds, though all identify as settlers or *arrivants*. The group has been studying the physical site of the CCA, its broader connections to land dispossession in what is now known as Montréal, as well as the CCA's institutional history, to better understand our position as a settler institution dedicated to researching architecture. Ultimately, the intent of this group is to facilitate the CCA's long journey toward fostering affirmative relationships with Indigenous peoples across Tiohtià:ke/Mooniyang/Montréal.</footnote>

<footnote n="3">3 "Centring Africa: Postcolonial Perspectives on Architecture," Canadian Centre for Architecture, accessed August 18, 2023, https://www.cca.qc.ca/en/61282/centring-africa-postcolonial-perspectives-on-architecture.</footnote>

<footnote n="4">4 "About the HRDI," The University of Texas at Austin, accessed August 30, 2023, https://hrdi.lib.utexas.edu/hrdi/about.</footnote>

<footnote n="5">5 "Digital Archive of the Guatemalan National Police Historical Archive," The University of Texas at Austin, accessed August 30, 2023, https://ahpn.lib.utexas.edu.</footnote>

<footnote n="6">6 "Archiving Data," Environmental Data and Government Initiative, accessed August 30, 2023, https://envirodatagov.org/archiving.</footnote>
of current political contention. And of course, there is the Europeana initiative to support and safeguard Ukrainian digital cultural heritage.<fnref n="7" />

Technology has democratised access in some ways, introducing a proliferation of open-access tools and participatory initiatives. The post-custodial model of archival practice is supported by digital technology in pursuit of a more collaborative approach to transnational archival work.<fnref n="8" /> On the other hand, the digital divide is real. Online access does not necessarily mean improved access for everyone, nor should it be mistaken for digital preservation in and of itself. Moreover, there are significant ethical considerations: when we digitise collections, who is doing the labour? What about communities that do not want their information made publicly available? Careful consideration and engagement of these ethical issues is a crucial component of participatory archival practice.<fnref n="9" />

## FIND AND TELL ELSEWHERE

With this in mind, we wanted to explore ways in which the CCA does not gain ownership to an archive but would increase access to material that would otherwise not be easily and globally accessible, to carry out and stimulate research, while at the same time apply our reparative description lessons learned. Digitisation is the tool to allow for access and further research, and we consider Wikimedia the principal platform for granting access, while the CCA website will play the role of a platform for editorial and curatorial narratives. The advantage of Wikimedia is that additional descriptions may be included in a language different from the standard used by the CCA, allowing other communities to study and write about this material. In other words, to place the material in the public domain, we feel that we take care of the material, but we shift from collecting (owning) to connecting – a post-custodial or rather non-custodial model.<fnref n="10" />

The CCA started a pilot project in 2022 by collaborating with the custodians of the papers of the Sudanese architect Abdel-Moneim Mustafa (1930) to examine his significant interventions in Khartoum and surroundings, and his role in the architecture of nation building in Sudan. Architecture historian Esra Akcan, who was a CCA research Fellow in 2019 was the initial liaison. The CCA's intention was to find ways to engage with this material, to make it visible and available for research rather than to acquire it, and at the same time to support local historians and researchers in sharing their work globally.

The custodians of the Mustafa papers, the office Technocon Engineering Consultancies in Khartoum, digitised a significant selection of the material in 2021 (around 40% of what is left of the Mustafa papers) and they have been documenting a selection of still existing buildings.<fnref n="11" /> The selection of projects and material to be digitised has been a collaboration. Project descriptions, object descriptions, and a biography were provided by the team in Khartoum. In close collaboration with them we made this substantial body of digitised material, including the Arab Bank for Economic Development Headquarters (1980) and the Nifidi and Malik Mixed Use Developments in Khartoum, available on Wikimedia. The team in Khartoum also proposed to document the build projects, which led to a photo commission.

In doing this work we have become aware of what Christian Kelleher coined as 'conflicting desiderata'. Kelleher writes: 'American and European-derived archival standards, practices, and assumptions may be prescriptive and inflexible when confronting cultural circumstances and purposes different from those they were originally intended for. The rationales of the Global North and implications for the Global South of appraisal, acquisition, arrangement, and description of archives to Western standards, or providing access with Western freedoms in mind, need to be explicitly considered, or they may be implicitly adopted as a result of unequal power structures.' <fnref n="12" />

Having done the work on Critical Cataloguing and Reparative Descriptions prompted us to be mindful of setting the agenda together, leaving the decision for the selection of material with our collaborators in Khartoum and count on their expertise and be mindful of their timeline – rather than ours. An attitude that Michelle Caswell and Marika Cifor described as ‘radical empathy’.<fnref n="13" />

In addition, we are in the process of creating a Wikipedia page which is an exercise in biased thinking. The biographical text is not accepted yet as it lacks citations according to the Wikipedia standards. Abdel-Moneim Mustafa may be one of the most important architects in Sudan, yet he is not recognised as such in the world of Wikipedia.

## CONNECTING INSTEAD OF COLLECTING

Currently we are working on a second project in collaboration with Professor Warebi Brisibe.<fnref n="14" /> Brisibe proposed to focus on the first generation of post-independence Nigerian architects like Michael Olutusen Onafowokan (the first President of the Nigerian Institute for Architects), Frank Nwobuora

<footnote n="7">7 "Statement of solidarity with Ukraine," Europeana, accessed 30 August, 2023, https://www.europeana.eu/en/statement-of-solidarity-with-ukraine.</footnote>

<footnote n="8">8 Hannah Alpert-Abrams, "Post-custodial Archiving for Our Collective Good," CLIR News, accessed 30 August 2023, https://www.clir.org/2018/10/post-custodial-archiving.</footnote>

<footnote n="9">9 Sofia Becerra-Licha, "Participatory and Post-Custodial Archives as Community Practice," Educause, accessed August 30, 2023, https://er.educause.edu/articles/2017/10/participatory-and-post-custodial-archives-as-community-practice.</footnote>

<footnote n="10">10 "Non-custodial" practices – archival documentation in which an archival institution may have a stewardship role but not an ownership role – are not applied often, perhaps reflective of how closely tied archives are with custody, even in a post-custodial era. But are very interesting for the CCA to explore further given the conversations with Indigenous communities.</footnote>

<footnote n="11">11 Sadly, due to the current conflict in Sudan the buildings have seen considerable damage. The digital documentation on Wikimedia is now the only resource left.</footnote>

<footnote n="12">12 Kelleher, Christian. "Archives Without Archives: (Re)Locating and (Re)Defining the Archive Through Post-Custodial Praxis," in "Critical Archival Studies," eds. Michelle Caswell, Ricardo Punzalan, and T-Kay Sangwand. Special issue, *Journal of Critical Library and Information Studies* 1, no.2 (2017).</footnote>

<footnote n="13">13 Michelle Caswell and Marika Cifor, "From Human Rights to Feminist Ethics: Radical Empathy in the Archives" in: *Archivaria*, The Journal of the Association of Canadian Archivists, Spring 2016.</footnote>

<footnote n="14">14 Professor Brisibe is currently Acting Head of the Department of Architecture of River State University of Science and Technology in Lagos, Nigeria.</footnote>
Mbanefo, Oluwole Olumuyiwa, Alex Ekwueme, Musa Waziri, Obong Victor Attah, and Olufemi Adetokunbo Majekodunmi. These architects and their contemporaries were responsible for many of the early post-colonial building projects in Nigeria during the 1960s and the oil-boom years of the 1970s. Their works have become major landmarks and national monuments in Nigeria. Brisibe and his team are collecting drawings from the estates of the architects, digitising, and describing the material. The CCA team will collaborate with them on the metadata structure and uploading digital files to Wikimedia. Together we will write texts for new Wikipedia pages. This effort will make the legacy of Nigeria's early independence architects known to a wider public, while the CCA will publish articles from local scholars on our website.

This approach signifies a different relationship between collecting, research, and programming. A growing network of scholars at CCA and elsewhere will gain from this project. For us it means positioning the institution as an agent in facilitating discovery and access to materials, while supporting different knowledge production within larger and diverse scholars' networks.

The future of archives is to connect rather than collect.

<figure><img src="image_26.png" /></figure>
Social Media
<figure><img src="image_27.png" /></figure>

Analysis of the most liked content of the world's 10 most followed Instagram accounts in 2022.

Javier Fernández Contreras and Paule Perron (HEAD – Genève (HES-SO))

# Mediated Archives: The Interiors of Instagram and TikTok

> "To raise the question of typology in architecture is to raise a question of the nature of the architectural work itself. To answer it means, for each generation, a redefinition of the essence of architecture and an explanation of all its attendant problems. This in turn requires the establishment of a theory, whose first question must be, what kind of object is a work of architecture? This question ultimately has to return to the concept of type."<fnref n="1" />

## THE ARCHITECTURAL TYPES OF SOCIAL MEDIA

Few concepts more accurately reflect the ethos of dominant architectural discourse throughout history than that of “type”. From Quatremère de Quincy’s and Jean Nicolas Louis Durand’s emphasis on tectonic and geometric elements in the 19th century to Le Corbusier’s functionalist approach and the cultural and historicist perspectives of Giulio C. Argan, Aldo Rossi, and Alan Colquhoun in the 20th century, the understanding of type and typology in architecture has undergone significant changes in the last two centuries. With the emergence of mass communications, these concepts expanded to include mediated and multimedia spatial types, where mediums such as cinema or commercial catalogues created new patterns that informed the architectural ethos and, in particular, the design of interior spaces.<fnref n="2" /> More recently, the emergence of social media platforms has created new types of space, further bolstered by users’ identities and their ability to perform within this architecture. The platforms’ algorithmic structures create classifications based on their own hierarchisation, which constitute an archiving process in its own right.

This essay examines the interior spaces of social media, with a particular emphasis on Instagram and TikTok as two of the dominant platforms shaping both contemporary and future architectural archiving through the massive production, editing, and circulation of images and videos of interiors, and questions the role social media plays in the contemporary redefinition of our material environment and its blurred boundaries, namely how its representation directly affects our everyday material surroundings. It suggests that the immense quantity of data produced by social media about space and architecture, and the inner neoliberal platforms’ structure that hierarchise and classify them, participate in the shaping of the architectural

<footnote n="1">1. Raphael Moneo, "On Typology," *Oppositions* 13 (Summer 1978): 23.</footnote>

<footnote n="2">2. As explained by authors such as Beatriz Colomina and Penny Sparke.</footnote>
discipline through an archiving<fnref n="3" /> process that defines categories, or spatial types, of both analysis and conception.

## ARCHIVING THE EVERYDAY

This study focused on the ten most followed accounts on Instagram and TikTok,<fnref n="4" /> analysing all the posts of 2022 that represent interior spaces<fnref n="5" /> without any officially stated commercial or professional purpose (e.g. partnership or brand tag). Following both Instagram and TikTok's primary initial aim, the research focused only on the *staged everyday life*, the alleged backstage of the professional lives of the account owners.<fnref n="6" /> At stake is the very definition of architecture in the 21st century and the question of any linear association with its historical mediums, i.e., physicality since its inception, textual geometry in the classical era, printed plans and scale models since the Renaissance, photographic and multimedia image since the modern era, and software and digital realms in the internet era.

Both Instagram and TikTok's media characteristics suggest that all the information communicated on the platforms is shared by account owners. The apps have integrated the complete processes of photograph and video production into a single device, the smartphone.<fnref n="7" /> Users are sold the idea of democratic access to the production and appreciation of these media cultures without any distinction. However, this supposedly inclusive immateriality has also made social media a powerful capitalist hub, which has developed its own social distinction processes.<fnref n="8" /> Following a production/consumption structure, the apps create a hierarchy of the most successful type of content (based on algorithms, number of likes, most followed accounts, partnerships with brands, etc.), the most valued body types (still heterosexual, mostly American, white, and hyper-sexualised) and their material environment, all products of this immaterial market, infiltrating the homes of populations worldwide.

The shift in media culture created by social networks has produced its own spatial references and aesthetics, its own architectural types that stage the bodies of the account owners discussed herein, and in which domestic spaces play a critical role. Domestic spaces are not only where social media celebrities live their private lives, but the core of their public existence. Kim Kardashian (7th account on Instagram) is well known for the muted palette of her interiors, without any distinction between her home, her office, or the interior of her car or private plane. Charli D'Amelio (2nd account on TikTok) posts mainly dance videos in her home, on her porch, in front of the bathroom mirrors, or in her living room. These very well-documented homes are mediated as fragmented architectural types that all act as performing envelopes for the body. On the one hand, the defined area of the once bounded house has let both public and productive activities in, making it a hub of capitalist production with all the technical devices needed to create a domestic interior that enacts daily a performed and recorded routine. On the other hand, the documentation of these celebrities' everyday lives has exported these domestic activities outside the home. Their cars, private planes, or friends' houses are external domestic units that act as extended performing envelopes for their body, just like their homes.

From an iconographic perspective, we can define specific spatial figures, types of interiors that are enacted as such: the couch, the elevator, the hotel corridor, the bathroom, the dressing room, the private transportation means (car, plane, bus, or limo), the backstage of an event or show, the swimming pool, the hotel room, the training room, or the nightclub table are categories of spaces with their own codes that we find in all the top accounts of 2022. These spatial figures draw a contemporary landscape of interior architectures, strongly linked to domesticities, that are organised, classified, hierarchised, and therefore, archived through the internal structure of the app. It means that the construction of the progressive actualisation of our everyday material environment normativity is structured by private companies and their neoliberal organisation.

## THE BODY, FIRST ARCHITECTURAL TYPE OF SOCIAL MEDIA

Our material environment is directly impacted by the evolution of the technologies, rhythms, and processes used to represent it. Paul Preciado showed the radical shift *Playboy* magazine produced in domestic spaces and interiorities in the middle of the 20th century through the simple but infinitely reproducible images of women's bodies in the Playboy Mansion.<fnref n="9" /> Instagram and TikTok have further extended this access to staged intimacy and body representations and accelerated its distribution pace. The platforms' top accounts regularly display their owners' bodies as the main object of their posts Their representations are amplified and enacted by a variety of material devices that help to broadcast an extended definition

<footnote n="3">3 In this study, "archive" is defined as an evolving database that shapes the major heritage of an event through the categorization and classification of its documentation. Over the past few decades, digitisation has had a profound impact on the archival process in architecture and interiors. The history can be traced back to the 1990s, when Nicholas Olsberg (1996) first mentioned the challenges presented to archivists by digital architecture archives when records were in digital CAD (Computer-aided design) formats. In the same line, William Mitchell (1996) explained the volatility of storage media, which would create a tendency to retain everything in a disorganized way in digital environments, with software and hardware dependencies of CAD systems as significant obstacles to preservation efforts. Ann. R. Armstrong (2006) noticed that digitisation would bring about profound shifts in archival studies and education, signaling an end to the historical practices of physical archive preservation.</footnote>

<footnote n="4">4 Visual analytics for Instagram conducted by Paule Perron; visual analytics for TikTok conducted by BA students in interior architecture Camille Bodin, Annie Bornet, and Taiana Broillet as part of the module "Theory of Mediated Spaces" (Prof. Javier Fernández Contreras, HEAD - Genève, spring semester 2023).</footnote>

<footnote n="5">5 In this study, interior space is understood as follows: First, its material boundaries must be visible in the picture (walls, roofs, vegetation, pool, etc.). Second, either the point of view of the photograph or the main character in the picture (their body) must be within these boundaries. Finally, the place is not accessible freely and without distinction from beyond this boundary (for physical reasons, as well as economic or social ones).</footnote>

<footnote n="6">6 The study was based on 300 posts total on TikTok and 370 posts on Instagram. They were all reviewed and analysed visually.</footnote>

<footnote n="7">7 Lev Manovich, "Subjects and Styles in Instagram Photography (Part 1)," in *Instagram and Contemporary Image* (self-pub., 2016), accessed March 10, 2023, http://manovich.net/content/04-projects/090-subjects-and-styles-in-instagram-photography-part-1/lm_instagram_article_part_1_final.pdf.</footnote>

<footnote n="8">8 Pierre Bourdieu, *La Distinction: Critique sociale du jugement* (Paris: Éditions de Minuit, 1979), 150.</footnote>

<footnote n="9">9 Paul Preciado, *Pornotopia: An Essay on Playboy's Architecture and Biopolitics*, 2nd ed. (New York: Zone Books, 2019), 30.</footnote>
of their performed corporal identity. Cosmetic products, surgical implants, clothes, body prosthetics, sports machines, furniture, and interior spaces are the supporting characters in this theatrical everyday life, and all ten most followed people own at least one brand selling these products. Like Hugh Hefner before them, they have understood that, to build their own public persona, it appears necessary to develop the spatial conditions for this identity narrative, and they are shaping their own bodies as the primary space broadcasting this identity. The material equipment they advertise "make out of this body a fragment of imaginary spaces",<fnref n="10" /> a place where utopias are crystalising, materialised within its flesh, with its own codes, hierarchies, and idealised models. Through their presence on various digital platforms, bodies become utopian spaces, infinite and distanced from their aging and imperfect living materiality, forming a unique architectural realm – a digital space supporting the construction of the public visual identity of its owner.

## UTOPIAN INTIMACY

Within this context, one could talk of a domain of expanded domesticity, where celebrities are increasingly using domestic-like spaces on social media platforms to showcase their – supposedly – private lives through the staging of their body. The expression of this privacy is enacted within a series of isolated spaces, a territory of domestic islands. Extracted from archetypes of Western bourgeois homes of the 20th century, the couch from the living room or the bed from the bedroom are examples of devices displaying a normative, ideal conception of domestic life, an enduring utopia of late modernity.<fnref n="11" /> The bed appears in both Instagram and TikTok accounts as a place of performed intimacy. Its recurring representation highlights ambiguity between a place of rest and hedonism, peacefulness and action, sleep and sexual activities, vulnerability and power, and is the location favoured by the Kardashian-Jenner family (3rd, 7th, 9th, 11th accounts on Instagram) to display their private lives. It also features in Cristiano Ronaldo's (1st account on Instagram) and Lionel Messi's (2nd) posts, providing a significant boost in the number of likes. Charli D'Amelio's (2nd on TikTok) most viewed video in 2022 on TikTok shows her laughing in bed in a hotel room with her best friend, allowing the spectator a glimpse into the most private sphere of the celebrity's life, providing the illusion of closeness and intimacy with them. The whole atmosphere of the bed (through lighting, the colour and texture of the sheets, the shape of the pillows or mattress) both defines and is defined by the body's visual characteristics – if the body is dark, then the bed may be white to emphasise it by contrast.

Before the digital era, domestic types such as the bedroom were understood and conceptualised as places where private lives were lived behind the façade of buildings, where the most valued activities of normative Western domesticity were enacted, taking place within the room, the served space. Through social media, they have become places of publicly performed individuality and privacy. Although still separated from the physical public sphere by walls and doors, their bounded interiority is redefined through their broad public dissemination. The bed has become an architectural type of public domesticity, conceptualised as a prop for the hypersexualised heteronormative body.

## INHABITING THE GLOBAL POCHÉ

Diving into the interior spaces of social media, the transformation of domestic spaces in the past ten years calls into question the shared understanding of their hierarchical relationships, and the way their neoliberal archiving shapes back architectural theory. Zones that for the past hundred years were identified as servant spaces are now the location of public performances. Places of domestic vulnerability spared by the public gaze, places of tending to multiple and imperfect corporeities are now displayed and enacted publicly.

Based on the specificities of their architectural program, the top accounts publicly explore and perform an expected and intimate vulnerability through the enactment of these spaces. The D'Amelio sisters (2nd and 16th accounts on TikTok), for example, also use their dressing rooms to showcase both their designer clothing and the transformation processes through which they become their public selves. Outside the scope of this research, recall the selfie bathroom at the 2017 Met Gala, starring three of the top ten account owners studied here. Away from the buzz of the most famous but invisible (or unphotographed) party of the year, the bathroom – once a place for the isolated transformation of the body in preparation for its public appearance – became a place of public visibility, offering to the public a glimpse of celebrities' seemingly non-official appearance and private lives behind the doors of their unsituated private spheres.

Ancillary spaces, traditionally unworthy of public attention, are now becoming the theater of social performance, staging corporeal vulnerabilities. The differentiation between servant and served spaces is blurred in social media platforms. The concept of “closed poché,”<fnref n="12" /> which refers to the remaining spaces distinguishing the interior of a room from the exterior of a building, and “open poché,” which describes the urban quality resulting from the interaction between interior and exterior spaces, can be applied to social media spaces through the notion of “a global poché.” The careful inversion between what is experienced as serving spaces by most people, when displayed as served spaces for a few, creates repetitive and non-contextual domestic islands floating within an unlimited and undefined territory.

<footnote n="10">10 Michel Foucault, *Le Corps utopique/Les Hétérotopies* (Paris: Nouvelles Éditions Lignes, 2019), 15.</footnote>

<footnote n="11">11 Hartmut Rosa, *Alienation and Acceleration: Towards a Critical Theory of Late-Modern Temporality*, (Copenhagen: NSU Press, 2010), 10.</footnote>

<footnote n="12">12 Jacques Lucan, "Généalogie du poché – de l'espace au vide," *Matière* 7 (February 2005): 45.</footnote>
PERFORMING ARCHIVED DOMESTICITIES

Social media culture has blurred the boundaries between public and private, domestic and professional, daily environment and staged advertisement. It has created its own interiorities, language, and has structured its own architectural archive. As the identified types are reiterations of well-known spaces (previously understood as public or domestic), the spatial limitations and the interactions between these categories have profoundly changed. This article stresses the domestic transformations this shift in media culture is producing through the enactment of its inhabitants' bodies. To view these interiorities as a contemporary architectural archive is to recognize their role in shaping space and architecture while contributing to the evolution of the discipline through the inherent engagement of social media, thus generating normativity and spatial behaviors. It is not only to comprehend but to conceptualise domestic spaces, in order to thwart, through architectural action, the power relations they perpetuate. Through the repetition of these spaces' representations, the top account owners are codifying contemporary domesticity through the archiving of an extended territory made of fragments of interior typologies, infinitely reproductible and ready to be sold as the performative spaces of their utopian bodies.

<figure><img src="image_28.png" /></figure>
<figure><img src="image_29.png" /></figure>

This image is a Photoshop collage made in collaboration with Ebrar Eke(AI Architecture), inspired by Dr. Andrew Tallon's point cloud scan of Notre Dame Cathedral and its 3D representation in Assassin's Creed, using the MidJourney AI.

# Progressive Archiving:
Strengthening Architectural
Practice Through Digital
Integration and Integrative
Approaches

Architecture stands as a testament to human creativity and innovation, reflecting our cultural, societal, and historical tapestry in an ever-changing world. As architects continue to shape living spaces, it is imperative that their designs are firmly grounded in a deep understanding of history and context. This article explores the potential of progressive archiving as a transformative force that reconnects architectural design and practice with the rich fabric of history, as it flows through the realm of architectural archives.

Architectural archives serve as vital resources for documenting the history, construction, use, and preservation of buildings and complexes. They function as repositories preserving the historical, cultural, and aesthetic values inherent in these structures while also offering invaluable opportunities for learning and research by future generations.

This article will explore the complexities of progressive archiving and demonstrate its potential to bridge the gap between architectural heritage and contemporary design. Through a comprehensive examination informed by personal experiences in restoration and preservation projects, post-war reconstruction initiatives in Syria, and post-earthquake rehabilitation initiatives in Turkey, this paper provides light on the difficulties architects face when seeking historical insights to inform their designs and practises. The best time to capture knowledge about a building is immediately after it has been built and while it is in use and, significantly, before its decline towards demolition.<fnref n="1" /> By delving into the specifics of these challenges, the article highlights the critical significance of accurate historical data in projects that seek not only functional excellence but also human experience enrichment.

When reflecting on personal experiences, it becomes evident how architectural archives gain significance. In 2018, during the topic of a master's thesis focused on the post-civil war reconstruction of Aleppo, challenges were faced in accessing historical data related to the city. It was during this process that personal archives emerged as invaluable assets. Notably, platforms

<footnote n="1">1 Jakob Beetz et al, Towards the long-term preservation of Building Information Models, Proceedings of the 30th CIB W78 International Conference - 9-12 October 2013, Beijing, China.</footnote>
such as Archnet<fnref n="2" />, an extensive, open-access library, played a pivotal role in providing researchers with insights into the city's past, facilitated by a wealth of photographs. This online resource's accessibility significantly simplified the process of accessing and analysing precise data.

In 2020, the restoration and reconstruction of a 400-year-old mansion<fnref n="3" /> in Diyarbakır encountered a lack of resources. This historically significant example of Ottoman architecture, which had been neglected for years, presented significant challenges in acquiring historic information. Extensive efforts were made to gather facts, including reaching out to collectors and residents. However, when it became obvious that obtaining adequate information through these methods would be difficult, the project was forced to proceed by drawing parallels to architectural styles with similar characteristics. The municipal archives proved inadequate for such a significant historical structure, requiring an extensive review of the historical Ottoman archives. Ultimately, the project was completed on time with careful planning and using the appropriate resources.

Similarly, a devastating earthquake that struck ten provinces in Turkey in February, widespread destruction threatened the cultural identity of towns and villages. There were immediate efforts to initiate restoration and reconstruction. However, these efforts failed due to the absence of a standardised archiving system. Even after nearly seven months post-earthquake, substantial heritage buildings still await appropriate restoration.

These personal experiences, being part of project and research teams, have profoundly illuminated the crucial part that architectural archives play in integrating the past with the future and preserving architectural heritage for future generations. Therefore, it is essential to strengthen architectural archives via digital integration and integrated strategies. Digital technology enhances the accessibility and utility of architectural archives by making them available online and allowing for the easy transfer of data between different archives. Moreover, an integrative approach requires interdisciplinary collaboration. To ensure the preservation and maintenance of architectural archives, professionals from various fields, such as architecture, history, engineering, art history, and related fields, need to collaborate. Only through such collaborative efforts can architectural heritage be preserved for future generations.

Progressive archiving refers to a modern approach to archiving that combines traditional archival methods with digital technologies and integrative strategies to enhance the preservation and accessibility of historical architectural documents and data. This paper explores blockchain's potential for preserving historical documents and the transformative capabilities of augmented and virtual reality for architects. As open-source and collaborative tools

thrive, architects can now collectively contribute to architectural archive preservation. With interdisciplinary collaboration, progressive archiving becomes a unifying force, reflecting diverse societal aspects. In modern design, finding reliable historical data is challenging. The paper highlights architects' difficulties, especially in projects where historical enrichment is crucial. Cultural heritage will guide us through historical archives.

## ADVANCING TRADITIONAL PRINCIPLES WITH DIGITAL SYNERGY

In recent years, the transformation of architectural archives has been unprecedented, motivated by a combination of traditional archival methodologies and modern digital technologies. This article's development section explores the inner workings of progressive archiving, revealing how this transformative approach changes the natural environment of architectural practise.

The digital age has created new challenges and opportunities for architectural archives. The rapid obsolescence and degradation of digital information makes it difficult to preserve and make architectural archives accessible. Evolving dynamics, shedding light on the significance of the integrated approach.<fnref n="4" /> Progressive archiving is a new approach to archiving that addresses these challenges by integrating digital and traditional archival methods.

Digital integration is a key component of progressive archiving. It allows for the integration and management of architectural archives in the digital environment. This makes architectural archives more accessible and usable. Holistic approaches are also important for progressive archiving. They encourage cooperation among various stakeholders for the preservation and accessibility of architectural archives. This ensures that architectural archives are more comprehensive and accurate.

Progressive archiving is an effective way to strengthen architectural archives and make them a more valuable resource for architectural design and practice. It can help architects to better understand the history and context of their projects, and it can also help them to create more sustainable and resilient buildings.

## BLOCKCHAIN: THE GUARDIAN OF AUTHENTICITY AND TRANSPARENCY

Blockchain technology has the potential to transform progressive archives by providing a secure, transparent, and durable way to store and access data. Blockchain is a decentralised and secure database system that can ensure the permanent nature of records and increase transparency, making

<footnote n="2">2 See https://www.archnet.org/ Accessed September 1, 2023.</footnote>

<footnote n="3">3 Şeyhoğlu Konağı is the one of oldest example of Diyarbakır traditional architecture which is adapted to a hot dry climate using local materials with unique architectural elements.</footnote>

<footnote n="4">4 Ann R.E. Armstrong, Architectural Archives/Archiving Architecture: The Digital ERA, Art Documentation: Journal of the Art Libraries Society of North America, Fall 2006, Vol. 25, No. 2, 12–17.</footnote>
it a promising tool for progressive archives that often contain sensitive or confidential information.

Blockchain technology can be used to verify the authenticity of architectural documents and documents, thereby preventing the increase of archival integrity threats that includes various risks to the accuracy and reliability of archival materials, including tampering, unauthorised access, or data loss. Furthermore, it enables the storage of architectural heritage information in a decentralised network, enhancing accessibility and resilience to natural disasters or other disruptions. As blockchain technology continues to evolve, we can anticipate even more innovative applications to address security, transparency, and durability challenges within progressive archives. The potential of blockchain technology to transform archives and records management by providing a secure and transparent data storage solution.<fnref n="5" />

As an example of the ARCHAIN Project<fnref n="6" /> utilises blockchain technology to ensure data integrity and reliability in archival processes. Blockchain stands out as a fundamental component that securely records transactions related to the transfer of all documents to the archive. ARCHAIN's adoption of this technology relies on the unique strengths of blockchain, an online ledger protected through cryptography during data creation and storage. This system securely records each transaction, preserving the accuracy and integrity of documents while ensuring long-term trustworthiness and traceability. As a result, the transition of scientific and technical documentation into the archive becomes more secure and dependable.

## STEPPING INTO HISTORY: AUGMENTED AND VIRTUAL REALITIES

Recent developments in the field of architectural history have demonstrated the transformative power of digital technologies in providing new evidence, reimagining historical spaces, and enhancing our understanding of built heritage. The article next transitions to the domain of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR), which are technologies that allow architects to move beyond time and space. The examination of historical contexts is no longer restricted to old-fashioned archives; architects can now virtually enter the past. This section explores the transformative potential of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR), demonstrating how architects can explore the spatial dynamics of ancient structures, immerse themselves in historical narratives, and gain a deeper understanding of the fundamental connection between architecture and its historical context. Utilising techniques such as LiDAR, ground-penetrating radar, and 3D laser scanning, capturing precise architectural details, enriching progressive archive with invaluable evidence.

Creation of 3D models using methods like GPR, LiDAR, and photogrammetry enable the intellectual reconstruction of historical structures, breathing life into progressive archive of the past.<fnref n="7" />

The restoration of Notre Dame Cathedral is an example of how digital technologies can be used to preserve cultural heritage. The 2019 fire that severely damaged Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France, is a reminder of the importance of preserving architectural heritage. In the wake of the fire, experts from around the world have come together to restore the cathedral. One of the most innovative aspects of the restoration effort is the use of digital technologies. Ubisoft<fnref n="8" /> created a digital model of the cathedral before the fire. This model provides a detailed representation of the cathedral's architecture and structure.<fnref n="9" /> It is being used to understand the cathedral's original condition and to develop restoration plans Andrew J. Tallon<fnref n="10" /> conducted a 3D scan of the cathedral.<fnref n="11" /> This scan captured details that reflect the cathedral's historical and cultural significance. It is being used to preserve the cathedral's original details. The digital models and 3D scan data developed by Ubisoft and Tallon are a turning point in the restoration of Notre Dame Cathedral. These data are enabling restoration efforts to be carried out more quickly, efficiently, and accurately. Progressive archiving, which is the integration of traditional archival practices with modern digital technologies and integrative methods. It can be used to improve the accuracy, efficiency, and preservation of architectural heritage by making it more accessible to the public, preserving its historical and cultural significance, and helping restoration efforts to be carried out more quickly and efficiently. The restoration of Notre Dame Cathedral is a prime example of how digital technologies and existing digital archives can significantly expedite and inform the preservation of cultural heritage. Notre Dame's restoration was facilitated by a well-established digital archive of the cathedral's architecture and historical details, in contrast to the cases discussed earlier in this paper, in which references for the structures had to be carefully gathered due to the lack of pre-existing digital archives. The potential of digital archives to not only assist but also improve the preservation process is thus highlighted.

## DEMOCRATISING ACCESS: OPEN-SOURCE PLATFORMS AND COLLABORATIVE TOOLS

Architectural archives play a dual role by not only serving as repositories of historical records but also as invaluable sources of knowledge, guidance, and inspiration for future architectural endeavours.<fnref n="12" /> This section discusses

<footnote n="5">5 Hrvoje Stancic, Anne Gilliland, Jesse McKee, Victoria Lemieux, How Blockchain Technology Transforming Archives and Records, Waiting For ICA Roma 2022, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6I16BCJURo, Accessed September 1, 2023.</footnote>

<footnote n="6">6 Albert Galiev et al, ARCHAIN: a Novel Blockchain Based Archival System, 2018 Second World Conference on Smart Trends in Systems, Security and Sustainability (WorldS4), 30–31 October 2018.</footnote>

<footnote n="7">7 Caroline Bruzelius, Digital Technologies and New Evidence in Architectural History, Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, Vol.. 76, No. 4 (DECEMBER 2017), 436–439.</footnote>

<footnote n="8">8 French Game Developer</footnote>

<footnote n="9">9 ‘Assassin’s Creed’ could be used to help rebuild Notre Dame cathedral, Accessed 01 September 2023, https://t.ly/hVdrk</footnote>

<footnote n="10">10 Belgian Art Historian (12 March 1969 – 16 November 2018)</footnote>

<footnote n="11">11 How One Man’s Legacy Could Help Rebuild Notre-Dame Cathedral, Accessed 01 September 2023, https://t.ly/oM80F</footnote>

<footnote n="12">12 Dr Arthur Barker, Ms Karlien van Niekerk and Mr Johan Swart, The importance of architectural archives, Department of Architecture, University of Pretoria (UP), 04 October 2016</footnote>
how open-source platforms and collaborative research tools can be used to democratise access to these valuable resources. The advent of the digital era has facilitated a period characterised by enhanced accessibility and inclusivity within architectural archives. Open-source platforms and collaborative research tools have become influential facilitators, promoting the democratisation of the archive process. This component explores the ways in which these platforms enable a cooperative atmosphere, wherein architects, historians, and enthusiasts work together harmoniously. The collaborative effort not only enhances the calibre of data but also expands the range of historical viewpoints, guaranteeing a more comprehensive picture of architectural heritage. Taking cues from the digital archiving initiatives platforms like UPSpace<fnref n="13" /> offer a means to democratise architectural materials, making them accessible to scholars and researchers across the globe.

## INTERDISCIPLINARY COLLABORATION: CREATING INCLUSIVE ARCHIVES

Rethinking the archive<fnref n="14" /> can help to make architectural archives more accessible, transparent, and reliable. It can also help to promote a more collaborative and inclusive approach to architectural research. For example, by bringing together architects, historians, archivists, and other stakeholders, we can create archives that are more comprehensive and accurate, and that are accessible to a wider range of people. Interdisciplinary collaboration is what forms the core of progressive archiving. This section emphasises the importance of incorporating diverse perspectives, including those of marginalised groups, in influencing the future of architectural archives. Progressive archiving eliminates the limitations of isolated viewpoints by promoting a multidisciplinary approach that draws on the knowledge of historians, sociologists, people in the community, and architects. The concept of participatory archives and inclusive archives can indeed be complementary. Both aim to make archival materials more accessible and involve a wider range of voices. Balancing inclusivity and expertise are a complex but necessary task in modern archival work. It's essential to recognise that the archive is not static; it evolves with societal changes and perspectives. The result is a more inclusive, detailed archive that reflects the complexity of architectural heritage and its relationships with society.

## CONCLUSION

Progressive archiving signifies the more systematic and organised application of traditional archiving methods alongside modern digital technologies and integrated methods. This aims at better preserving, making accessible, and passing on the rich data from the past, especially in the field of architectural

archiving. It emphasises how digital technologies, interdisciplinary collaboration, and a more inclusive approach are integrated into archiving processes. This could potentially contribute to the more effective preservation and transmission of architectural heritage to future generations. This is possible because architectural records provide a wealth of historic, scientific, technical, aesthetic, social, and cultural information. This contribution to architectural archives enhances their value and utility. <fnref n="15" /> By embracing digital integration, accessibility, and collaborative efforts, architects can easily progress towards a future in which architecture becomes a bridge between the past and the present, creating narratives that connect with the human experience all over time.

Progressive archiving serves as a bridge between the past and the present. Architects stand at an intersection where digital integration harmonises with tradition, preserving the essence of history while moving architectural practice forward. By incorporating blockchain technology, AR and VR experiences, open collaboration, and interdisciplinary interaction, architects are not only overcoming the challenges of gaining access to historical data, but also embarking on a journey of transformational. Overcoming challenges is that implementing technologies like AR, VR, and blockchain in progressive archiving can be challenging due to cost and resource constraints, the need for specialised technical expertise, concerns about data privacy and security, integration issues with existing systems, and potential resistance to change from traditional practices. This transformation contributes to the development of architectural heritage and generates designs which respect their roots. (a continuity in which innovation and tradition coexist in harmony).

Progressive archiving is a testament to the harmony of the past and the present, as well as the enduring influence of architecture on the human experience. Progressive archiving, by preserving and making architectural heritage accessible, ensures that the influence of historical architecture on the human experience endures. It implies that the architectural designs of the past have shaped how people interact with and experience their built environment, and by archiving and studying these designs, we can continue to learn from and be inspired by them in the present and future. In essence, progressive archiving helps maintain the connection between architecture and the human experience across time. Architects are currently engaging in a transformative process by maximising the potential of digital integration, adopting inclusive methodologies, and promoting collaborative initiatives. This journey enables them to overcome obstacles to historical data access while integrating their designs with a sense of the past. In doing so, architects become curators of both innovation and tradition, fostering the evolution of architectural heritage and contributing to a future in which the echoes of history are strongly reflected in the designs that define our world.

<footnote n="13">13 UPSpace is the Institutional Repository of the University of Pretoria and is defined as an open-access electronic archive collecting, preserving, and distributing digital research material donated to or created by the institution and its community members. (University of Pretoria, 2015)</footnote>

<footnote n="14">14 Anatolios Stathiou, Rethinking the Archive; Memories for the Future, Nona Architecture, January 10, 2020.</footnote>

<footnote n="15">15 Julie Collins, Future Histories – Archiving Digital Architectural Records, The Business of Architecture, Association of Consulting Architects Australia, 1 March 2023</footnote>
<figure><img src="image_30.png" /></figure>

milanzlokovicfoundation

<figure><img src="image_31.png" /></figure>

...

<figure><img src="image_32.png" /></figure>

## Milan Zloković Foundation

Milan Zloković Foundation was established in 2016 with a mission to enable full enlightenment and affirmation of the work of architect Zloković.

<figure><img src="image_33.png" /></figure>

www.milanzlokovic.org

<figure><img src="image_34.png" /></figure>

Followed by **djodjodesignstudio**, **studio_fluid** and 4 others

Following v

Message

<figure><img src="image_35.png" /></figure>

<figure><img src="image_36.png" /></figure>

Zahvalnica...

<figure><img src="image_37.png" /></figure>

Zahvalnica...

<figure><img src="image_38.png" /></figure>

Iz biblioteke...

<figure><img src="image_39.png" /></figure>

Izložba Oblik

<figure><img src="image_40.png" /></figure>

UDK_Tiršova

<figure><img src="image_41.png" /></figure>

<figure><img src="image_42.png" /></figure>

<figure><img src="image_43.png" /></figure>

<figure><img src="image_44.png" /></figure>

<figure><img src="image_45.png" /></figure>

<figure><img src="image_46.png" /></figure>

<figure><img src="image_47.png" /></figure>

Min-archive form in digitalised context: Instagram profile of Milan Zloković Foundation @milanzlokovicfoundation.

# Continuity or Discontinuity of Architectural History: Digital Repositories and Social Media as Archives

BETWEEN INTUITIVE AND CONTROLLED: RESHAPING ARCHITECTURAL CRITICISM THROUGH DIGITAL ARCHIVES

Digital archives bring a new way of reading architectural history narratives and reshape architectural criticism through new research sources and tools. Digital repositories such as architectural design platforms – Archdaily, Archilovers, Dezeen, Architectural Digest, and social media networks – Instagram, Pinterest, and TikTok have become highly relevant documentary research sources. Users of digital archives cannot only explore but also comment, criticise, and popularise iconic architectural, historical, and/or contemporary projects. Thus, they influence architectural practice and its contemporary (and future) trends, simultaneously making themselves curators. Furthermore, this shapes a competitive atmosphere among architectural designers, whose projects seek to follow these trends which emerge from ‘futurising’ the past, thus taking historical architectural references and putting them into a future context.

Social media users and digital repository curators reconnect architectural design with architectural history by making innovative structures of architectural archives and thus interfere in reading architectural history narratives. Critical reading of these digital archive flows leads to the following questions: Is there a methodology for reconnecting architectural design practice with historical references through digital repositories, or is it an uncontrollable, intuitive, intertwined, and manifold connection? Is there a methodology for ‘futurising’ the architectural object from the past and curating it for the future, by giving it a new temporal context? Could these methodologies be proposed by transposing traditional archiving and curatorial practices into digital ones?

To explore the possibilities of formulating new methodologies for curating the future of architecture, the following discussion focuses on the entangled relation between traditional archives on one side (as fully controlled practices) and social media networks and digital repositories as innovative archiving practices (as partly controlled), on the other. Digital archives like social media networks have categorisation, which seems more intuitive because of their organically growing and classification over time with users' digital activities. Users on social media are archivists with an illusion of fluid and intuitive
research. In fact, there is also a top-down organising structure, but this force happens invisibly by less explicit forces of economic or social systems.

Further, selected social media users' comments on iconic architectural works were analysed in the context of 'futurising' these historical architectural objects by putting their contemporary context into new temporal contexts. In this way, social media networks and digital repositories have a large influence on reading architectural history narratives and reshaping architectural criticism. Applying traditional methods of archiving and curatorial practices to digital ones means acknowledging social media and digital repositories as new relevant research sources and tools. The question is how to make an order and give a shape to these new (digital) archive structures so as not to diminish the importance of architectural criticism and make it meaningless. This discussion aims to propose new guidelines for a methodology (or methodologies) of archiving architectural design through digital repositories and social media, thus influencing the curation of the future of architecture and the continuity of architectural history narrative.

## BLURRED LINES: ARCHIVING IN TRADITIONAL AND DIGITALISED CONTEXT

The traditional notion of the archive carries epithets such as — static, linear, physical, tangible, controlled, protective, centred, and arranged, in opposition to digital archives, which are — dynamic, non-linear, inclusive, flexible, intangible, fluid, decentred, and open-sourced. The ambiguity of the archive lies in its power to decide what is worth remembering and what is to be forgotten.<fnref n="1" /> However, the digital archive's innovative structure is blurring the lines between memorised and forgotten parts of architectural history and deciding which segments of the past will be revived and sent directly into the future. In other words, traditional archives 'keep the past alive,'<fnref n="2" /> but digital archives revive the architectural object from the past and 'futurise' it by putting it into a future timeframe and thus giving it a new temporal context.

In the traditional archiving system, there is a strict division between users and curators, whereas digital archives allow users to become curators and architects of archives. Consequently, users of social media and digital repositories don't have constraints in researching architectural history nor in influencing new ways of reading it. If 'the archive as the condition for our knowledge of history becomes dependent on the media of its transmission,'<fnref n="3" /> then reading architectural history narratives also depends on the archive's transmission media. Digital archives influence writing architectural history

narratives by bringing archives, as architectural historian Beatriz Colomina named 'fragmented entities that hide in a private and "messy space".'<fnref n="4" />

Discussing the bond between experimental architectural design and archive, in his article *Unleashing the Archive* Wigley claims that the archive must be what is in front of architectural design, not behind, underlining that: "Work can only be experimental by both actively positioning itself relative to existing archives and through new archiving moves".<fnref n="5" /> This could mean that besides constantly reading architectural history narrative, which is collected and classified in existing (traditional) archives, new archiving moves need to emerge for experimental design to be relevant in architectural design practice. In a digitalised context, these new archiving moves are already shaping new structures of digital archives, and this process is in part intuitive and partly controlled. Digital archive brought what Wigley named an 'experimental relationship to the archive.'<fnref n="6" /> For example, digital archive brings innovative and complex archivist-user relation. Digital repositories of architectural design projects, such as *Archdaily* (architecture platform), *Archilovers* (networks of architects), *Dezeen*, and *Architectural Digest* (architectural magazines), differ from social media networks, such as Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and TikTok. Digital repositories' classification resembles traditional archives because they are top-down structured — architects themselves provide architectural design project documents. Furthermore, as project authors, architectural designers make key decisions about organisation of documents. Digital repositories make research guidelines by following category groups: Archdaily — by project category, architect, country/region, year, manufacturers, colour, Architectural Digest — by architecture, innovative design, celebrity style, AD100, Dezeen — by most popular and most recent architectural/interior stories, and Archilovers — by projects list, projects map, elements, materials and themes. To summarise, the digital repository classification criteria are mostly innovation and popularity. It means that, besides architects, users of these repositories also classify and take archivist roles. Several main parameters make an architectural project popular on social media networks: the number of likes, comments, and searches. This means that criteria for categorising architectural content on social media emerge organically over time. However, social media users are not just partly archivists but archivists indeed. Social media mechanism as a research tool may illustrate best why this innovative digital archiving process is non-linear, dynamic, and inclusive. For example, Instagram allows users to give a like, repost an image, a story, a reel, or any of the other users' comments on them, and thus to share and connect particular architectural design projects with some new reference, bringing a new way of reading its context, values, and meaning. In this way, digital archives, such as social media networks, get a crucial advantage over traditional ones — the essence of an archive is the place of potential discoveries.

<footnote n="1">1 Stamatis Zografos, "On Archives," in *Architecture and Fire: a Psychoanalytic Approach to Conservation* (London: UCL Press, 2019), 24.</footnote>

<footnote n="2">2 Mark Wigley, "Unleashing the Archive," *Future Anterior: Journal of Historic Preservation, History, Theory, and Criticism*, Vol. 2, No. 2 (Winter 2005): 11.</footnote>

<footnote n="3">3 David M. Berry, "Chapter Four. The Post-Archival Constellation: The Archive under the Technical Conditions of Computational Media," in *Memory in Motion: Archives, Technology and the Social*, eds. Ina Blom, Trond Lundemo and Eivind Røssaak (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2016), 109.</footnote>

<footnote n="4">4 Zografos, "On Archives," 28.</footnote>

<footnote n="5">5 Wigley, "Unleashing the Archive," 12.</footnote>

<footnote n="6">6 Wigley, "Unleashing the Archive," 12.</footnote>
## FUTURISING THE PAST: SOCIAL MEDIA USERS AS ARCHIVISTS

As a new form of archive, social media has the power of creative information classification and innovative shaping of heterogeneously structured archives, thus opening up new directions for researching and reading architectural history narratives. In the following discussion, three examples of social media as new forms of archives are selected. The first one is an Instagram profile @milanzlokovicfoundation—a historical architect's personal digital archive. The second one is the Instagram profile @genex.tower, an archive of one of the Belgrade's most famous landmark—Genex Tower (or The West Gate), and the third one is digital repository posts and social media user comments on the iconic architectural work of Spanish architect Ricardo Bofill—a new form of digital archiving moves as futurising the past.

Besides technical drawings of built and competition projects and photos of built houses, the Instagram profile of the *Milan Zloković Foundation*<fnref n="7" /> reveals private artifacts of this significant Serbian modern architect.<fnref n="8" /> It presents the architect's family photos, other artworks—such as watercolour portraits, personal invitations for cultural and academic events, photos of magazines he founded and edited, etc. This type of digital mini-archive is of great importance for architectural history research because it lights up the architect's sensibility and profile as an artist and architectural designer. It is a much more important approach than the linear research of a particular architectural work archive within an architect's architectural practice oeuvre. Through these historical artifacts presented in social media collage, the narrative of the architect's development and the process of shaping a personal, authorial approach to architectural design could be understood from the beginning, as well as his complex relation to modern architecture. Also, this illustrates futurising the past, an example of an iconic historical architect's profile in the contemporary context.

A mini-archive in the form of an Instagram profile could also be based on a single architectural object, like in the case of the *Genex Tower*—Belgrade's symbol of late modernism (brutalism).<fnref n="9" /> Sources for this digital archive are carefully selected: articles of that period, scientific articles, television program shows and interviews, architectural history books, magazine articles with a critical approach, documentary movies, short YouTube informative videos, residents' and visitors' photos, etc. At first glance, this is just a social media profile of a single building, with its historical exterior and interior images and following texts as critical comments on its architectural characteristics, but it's much more. Much information and stories came from the building's residents and people who worked in the business tower.<fnref n="10" />

The photos and videos in this profile seem like the building has frozen in time. The impression comes from the decay of the business tower. Reading the history of a *Genex Tower* reveals multiple histories and their truths: the history of a resident, the history of a building, the history of a business company, the history of a society, and the history of a state. This digital archive collected information about a state's cultural, political, and social history and presented it through the architecture of a single city's landmark building. Although *Genex Tower* is a city's monument, to preserve it, Wigley's claim that 'to save something is to redesign it'<fnref n="11" /> needs to be considered. It may be through the redesign of its archive, the intangible type of redesign. Creative new archiving moves consider that archives aren't just sites where documents on objects are protected, but rather to preserve means to make archives 'spaces of creative freedom and intervention.'<fnref n="12" />

The third case of social media analysis as a new form of digital archiving moves are posts and social media users' comments on the iconic architectural work of Spanish architect Ricardo Bofill. For example, the apartment complex—*La Muralla Roja* in Alicante and in Calpe, Spain, are trendy spots for photo shooting, and Instagrammable locations, primarily because of their dreamy form and colour. Because of their massive popularity on social media and various references to popular culture, the most comprehensive way to search for these iconic historical architectural works are by hashtags on Instagram, like #lamurallaroja, and look under *Top posts*. Several posts and social media users' comments stand out. Regarding popular culture, Instagram users mostly compare this complex form and atmosphere with the television series *Squid Game*, whereas *Architectural Digest*, on their *Instagram* post, compares it with *Dream House* from *Barbieland* because of its vibrant pink facade.<fnref n="13" /> Through their comments, social media users become architectural critics and curators, while contemporary architectural designers are competing in following these newly globally popularised Instagrammable aesthetic trends.

## DIGITAL ARCHIVES: THE TASK OF CURATING THE FUTURE

To summarise, new guidelines for archiving architectural design through digital repositories and social media networks should follow dynamism and non-hierarchical processes of social media. To establish the continuity of reading architectural history narrative (with its multiple parallel histories), it is essential for the (digital) archive to be open and inclusive and to represent a platform for potential discoveries of forgotten (or hidden) architectural history fragments. In this potential new methodology of archiving through social media, the clear partition between archivist and user does not

<footnote n="7">7 Milan Zloković Foundation was established in 2016 as a private archive open for public with a mission to enable full enlightenment and affirmation of the work of architect Milan Zloković.</footnote>

<footnote n="8">8 Milan Zloković Foundation (@milanzlokovicfoundation), https://www.instagram.com/milanzlokovicfoundation/.</footnote>

<footnote n="9">9 Genex Tower (@genex.tower), https://www.instagram.com/genex.tower/.</footnote>

<footnote n="10">10 There are two parts of a Genex Tower—a residential and a business tower.</footnote>

<footnote n="11">11 Wigley, "Unleashing the Archive," 13.</footnote>

<footnote n="12">12 Ines Weizman, "Architecture's Internal Exile: Experiments in Digital Documentation of Adolf Loos's Vienna Houses," *Architectural Design* 88 (May/June 2018): 39, https://doi.org/10.1002/ad.2298.</footnote>

<footnote n="13">13 *Architectural Digest* (@archdigest), Instagram photo, September 30, 2023, https://www.instagram.com/p/CwiQr1ZxdAe/.</footnote>
exist, flow of the information is highly dynamic and transformable, with unpredictable character. However, there are some key constants (like *popular posts* and *hashtags*) in which lies hidden organisation structures.

Complex and entangled new archiving moves and flows in the context of digital archives seem to originate from social media users' online activities and networking. But, analysis of the examples of social media profiles as new forms of digital mini-archives shows that guidelines for new archiving moves can be found in a manner of integrating the traditional archiving organisation into digital ones. Social media users become architectural history archivists and curators of the future of architecture, by reviving iconic architectural works from the past and translating them into the future context of architecture. To predict the directions of reconnecting the architectural design practice with architectural history through digital repositories and social media networks, the archiving practice must be able to accept dynamic changes of classification and heterogeneity of information and their references. This leads to new forms of digital mini-archives as social media collaged profiles with a critical approach to content selection and presentation.

<figure><img src="image_48.png" /></figure>
# createGalleries.py:
An Abstract Formulation
of an Art Gallery in Venice

## INTRODUCTION

Space in a digital context is not necessarily limited to the three physical dimensions we are bound to design within as architects. Digital spaces are represented by vectors of n-dimensions, and the similarities between them can be measured in numerous different ways depending on the nature of the data and the type of connections we want to study.<fnref n="1" /> However, before we are able to represent anything as a vector, we have to establish a way of encoding this thing into its computational representation. A necessity but also potential that was already identified by Ada Lovelace through her insight for the potential of numerical encoding to offer another space to think in.<fnref n="2" /> The primary objective throughout this project is to encode cultural and contextual entities in order to project these onto a geometrical domain of architectural formulations.

The project described here is primarily concerned with exploring how recommender systems can navigate the design space of built environments. The overall approach is centred around the idea of synthesis through fragmentation, where a new whole is arranged from the broken-down elements of the old entity through associations informed by machine learning methods, leading to the automated proposal of 1297 galleries in Venice with specifically assembled art collections based on the qualitative characteristics of photos taken around the sites of the galleries.

The concept of recommender systems, a technology that has transformed the way in which we can navigate cultural artefacts on digital platforms, formed the primary inspiration for the project. One way of understanding a recommender system is that it enables the user to compose a view onto this n-dimensional vector space from a particular point of view. In the case of the personal Spotify Discover Weekly playlist this view would be a list of songs from the overall environment, and the point of view is the listening behaviour of the specific user.<fnref n="3" /> As such the recommender system

<figure><img src="image_49.png" /><figcaption>A selection of galleries.</figcaption></figure>

<footnote n="1">1. Common ways to finding similarities between data include Manhattan or Euclidean distances. When dealing with text data cosine similarity is often used. For a study on an improved cosine similarity measure that also discusses established methods in a comprehensive way see Murat Kirişci, 'New Cosine Similarity and Distance Measures for Fermatean Fuzzy Sets and TOPSIS Approach', Knowledge and Information Systems 65, No. 2 (1 February 2023): 855-68, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10115-022-01776-4.</footnote>

<footnote n="2">2. Vera Bühlmann, 'Arché, Arcanum, and Articulation: The Universal and Its Characteristics', in Domesticating Symbols: Metalithikum. II, ed. Ludger Hovestadt and Vera Bühlmann, Applied Virtuality Book Series (Vienna: Ambra V, 2014), 112-76.</footnote>

<footnote n="3">3. Kurt Jacobson et al., 'Music Personalization at Spotify', in Proceedings of the 10th ACM Conference on Recommender Systems, RecSys '16 (New York, NY, USA: Association for Computing Machinery, 2016), 373, https://doi.org/10.1145/2959100.2959120.</footnote>
is not a technology that creates new things, instead it provides technics to communicate a constellation as perceived from a wide domain. An architectural counterpart to this might be seen in the perspective drawing technics introduced by Alberti during the renaissance.<fnref n="4" /> This instrument did not serve as a means of creating new objects, however it did enable a new way of communicating the nature of 3D Euclidean space.

In the next three sections I will primarily elaborate on the technical implementation of this project before reflecting on its theoretical implications in the final section and conclusion.

## READING A CITY ON DIGITAL TERMS

In dealing with a digital architecture which is recommended from digital artefacts, the primary context was chosen to be established from all photos posted on Flickr with coordinates in Venice.<fnref n="5" /> This amounts to a collection of 192,747 images. These images do not have a geometry, and when taken as their coordinates, they do not belong to a specific geometry either. The only thing we know is a coordinate, not a 3D association with a building or object, these photos could be taken inside buildings, on the street, on the roof, or any other type of place imaginable. Therefore, it was decided not to determine their places and collection based on the known urban landscape to which the coordinates correspond but re-establish places in Venice purely based on the coordinate data and the biases that can be discerned within. As such internalising location within the digital away from the context. The reason for this was to not group areas by their established geographical definition, but instead discern a location as a place where the activity (based only on the coordinate information of flickr posts, not yet considering the images themselves) takes place without discernible bias. To this end a new recursive method of dividing location was developed. The principle is simple but results in a varied and nuanced distinction between places, which considers spatial nuances more effectively than other more established clustering methods such as *K-Means*, not in the least because of the open-ended number of locations contrary to the set *K* in other methods.<fnref n="6" />

Starting with a large rectangle, if the coordinates in the rectangle are uniformly distributed, it is determined as a location, as there is apparently no bias to the collection of points. If not, the rectangle is divided into squares, and the process repeated, until the smallest set threshold of space is reached, here 1x1m. Afterwards adjacent squares with similar density are joined into locations. This results in an irregular collection of 2706 locations determined by the distribution of Flickr photos.

## CONTEXT AND ART

To connect the qualitative visual characteristics of this digital context – the Flickr photos in each location – to a physical dimension the combined collection of MoMA and TATE was gathered, amassing to a total of 130,178 art pieces.<fnref n="7" /> This dataset contains images, names of art pieces, artists, and most essential for the physical projection: the dimensions of each exhibition piece. The 2706 locations and the Flickr photos contained in them were used for retraining the MobileNet model through transfer learning, using the collection of photos in each location as categories, leading to a model that is trained to discern the visual characteristics of each location.<fnref n="8" /> The art pieces were divided over these locations based on the classification of the images into these locations by the retrained model. This resulted in 1297 different art collections that visually correlate to photos taken in the corresponding locations. Some locations remain empty, as no art piece was deemed to be associated to those locations.

The vectorised encoding of the images based on the visual features as encoded by the retrained ImageNet model not only allowed for pairing them with visually similar locations but also enabled the possibility of building an internal graph of the collection through the nearest neighbour’s algorithm. This graph is used for the order and spatial division of the art configurations.

A graph as such offers too many possibilities and no clear anchor point. Therefore, a hierarchy needs to be established from a specific point. In order to avoid one art piece to stand above the others, art pieces were generated for each collection using a GAN trained on the entire art dataset.<fnref n="9" /> These generated images serve to represent the overall character of the collection and stand at the root of a minimum spanning tree (MST) which determines the spatial structure of the gallery.<fnref n="10" /> As such offering a vantage point from where the collection is navigated.

## DEFINITION OF A GEOMETRIC DOMAIN

This tree structure, representing a sequence and division of art pieces, was divided into branches, forming sub collections. From these sub collections the dimensions of spaces are derived based on the sizes and type of the art. The total combined surface area is calculated based on these dimensions, and from this – given the project is situated in Venice with hardly any empty plots – the existing building with the most similar surface area

<footnote n="4">4 Miro Roman and Alice ch3n81, Play Among Books: a Symposium on Architecture and Information Spelt in Atom-Letters, ed. Ludger Hovestadt and Vera Bühlmann (De Gruyter, 2021), 30–3.</footnote>

<footnote n="5">5 For gathering the Flickr photos, the official Flickr API was used: Flickr, 'API Documentation', Flickr Services, The App Garden, accessed 1 September 2023, https://www.flickr.com/services/api/.</footnote>

<footnote n="6">6 K-Means is a clustering method that divides a set of vectors into K clusters. It is based on the principle of minimising the internal distance of each cluster.</footnote>

<footnote n="7">7 Open Data Robot, 'MoMA Collection – Automatic Monthly Update' (Zenodo, 1 November 2022), https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7269353; TATE, 'The Tate Collection', GitHub Repository, 2020, https://github.com/tategallery/collection.</footnote>

<footnote n="8">8 Andrew G. Howard et al., 'MobileNets: Efficient Convolutional Neural Networks for Mobile Vision Applications' (arXiv, 16 April 2017), https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.1704.04861.</footnote>

<footnote n="9">9 Hendrik Vincent Koops, 'VPRO Guide GAN Covers', GitHub Repository, 2020, https://github.com/hvkoops/vpro-gids-gan-covers.</footnote>

<footnote n="10">10 An MST is a subset of edges and nodes within a graph. The subset is such that it forms a tree data structure that connects all nodes with the lowest total distance.</footnote>
within the location is chosen to be replaced by the gallery. This plot serves
as a boundary for the configuration of spaces. The spaces derived from
the tree structure are configured in a way that matches the tree structure
and stays within the bounds of the plot. This set of resulting volumes then
serves as a massing study of sorts, to which a set of geometries is fitted.
This procedural process is defined through a set of algorithmic approaches
coded in Python.

The first is that given any set of volumes a valid circulation system is
calculated, ensuring that all spaces are accessible. The algorithm used for
this is an adapted version of a visibility graph, extended to include connections
with slopes that fall within restraints based on staircase regulations.<fnref n="11" />

From these volumes and circulation routes an inside and outside is
determined which dictates the placement of walls and roofs. These are only
placed around volumes where the bounds are on the outside, thus allowing
for multiple spaces to be connected into irregular open areas, only divided
by narrow walls to support art but otherwise allowing for internal circulation.

The final step is to introduce windows. For this the direct context is
considered in order to frame views that visually correspond to the contents
of the art collection. A 3D vector field is created within the bounding box
of the gallery. The north, south, east and west views from the centre of the
site are split into a grid of smaller images. The similarity of the views to the
generated art piece determines the attraction of the centre point of that
view onto the 3D vector field. If the vector at the coordinates of a block of
wall forms an acute angle with that wall it is turned into a window, if not the
wall block is rotated by the vector's angle to form a gradual opening of the
walls towards the windows.

Together these algorithms establish a domain of geometric definitions
of these galleries. Additional detail was added to the results by matching
material palettes to the art collection based on visual similarity. These
materials were then applied to the different types of resulting geometries.

PROJECTING ONTO THIS GEOMETRIC DOMAIN

If through algorithmic means we can construct a domain of geometric
configurations, then how do we make images onto this domain in a way
that relates to the architectural proportions we would like to address?<sup>12</sup>
Using machine learning methods the projection from the domain to this
geometric co-domain does not need to rely on linear functions anymore
but instead follow contingent relations established through associations

of data. Removing the linear connection between domain and co-domain
lifts the resulting architectonic connection out of geometry but onto
a communication between non-commensurable fields. Thus needing to rely
on finding proportionalities between the two domains instead of translating
them into the same common set, similar to the proportion between plan and
section. These domains in architecture are not the same, nor can they be
reduced to one field, they need to stand orthogonal to each other to bear
meaning. In this case the computational encoding of the 3D model allowed
for a model of communication that mediates the two, here through linear
Euclidean geometric projections. In the case of a domain of geometric
definition and a domain of context and cultural entities, an orthogonality
needs to be sought as well as a manner of communicating between the
two, which in this project is established by a collection of machine learning
methods, thus relying on contingent regression of connections over linear
projections. Whether these methods are correct or not is a similar question
as posing if a building is good or not.

CONCLUSION

When evaluating the outcome of these recommended galleries for particular
locations, it is essential to recall the nature of a recommender system:
it allows for a perspective on a defined domain. As such these different
galleries are not so much 1297 distinct designs, but many different projections
of a domain of galleries. The nature of this domain is constructed by the
algorithmic design operations defined within the programmed manner in which
these galleries are given shape. The elements are the types of geometries
which get combined, and the operations on top of these elements are the
definitions of how these geometries can be combined. This can be compared
to that of group theory where the elements of a set are combined with an
operation on these elements to form a group.<fnref n="13" />

Now when thinking about architecture in this way we open up a manner of
how to think about the domains of buildings and contexts in more abstract
ways which then can be engendered through computational means. The
challenge is to avoid ‘computerising’ the architecture, and instead maintain
the connection between the things which are vectorised and their original
counterparts as an encoding but not appropriation, for then the qualitative
aspect is lost.<fnref n="14" /> Hence the plea for viewing these methods as new means of
communication, and arguing against the idea that these technics generate
new things themselves.

Similarly to the topic of *differentiae* by Hegel where the features of an
observed thing, or *differentiae*, are essentially connected to the cognition
which discerns them as well as the object which is observed, it is worth

<footnote n="11">11 A visibility graph is a method to find paths around visible obstacles on a Euclidean plane, often used within videogames or for robot movement. Here the plane was extended by connections that have a slope, but the principal method remains the same.</footnote>

<footnote n="12">12 Here image is considered in the mathematical sense where an image of a function means the collection of possible outcomes within the co-domain of the function.</footnote>

<footnote n="13">13 A simple example of a group is the set of the whole numbers with the operation of addition.</footnote>

<footnote n="14">14 Ludger Hovestadt, Beyond the Grid - Architecture and Information Technology: Applications of Digital Architecture = Beyond the Grid - Architecture and Information Technology (Basel Berlin: Birkhäuser, 2010), 18.</footnote>
noting that the features of things encoded in vectors are as much
a characteristic of the model that is used for the encoding as of the thing
which is encoded.<fnref n="15" /> The creation of new architectonic abstractions will still
have to be done through interactions and finding proportions between the
domains within which we communicate. However these might not be purely
constrained to the Euclidean geometries we have been dealing with in terms
of computational models of architecture.

The algorithmic approach is able to define a structure of a domain of
geometric definitions but without adequate ways of navigating these, and
revealing constellations of this domain they remain blocks of geometry.
The interest in navigating in these domains is to attempt at discerning
constellation from the domain of geometric possibilities.

<figure><img src="image_50.png" /></figure>

<footnote n="15">15 G. W. F. Hegel, Phenomenology of Spirit: 569, trans. A. V. Miller, Revised ed. edition (Oxford: Oxford University Press, U.S.A., 1976), 149.</footnote>
<figure><img src="image_51.png" /></figure>

Forgotten Masterpieces - FOMA

<figure><img src="image_52.png" /></figure>

# A Living Open Architecture Archive: Lessons from Docomomo and Architectuul Collaboration, Challenges and Potentials

## INTRODUCTION

In an era of rapid architectural evolution, the preservation of architectural heritage, particularly that of the Modern Movement, stands as a paramount challenge. This contribution aims to showcase the collaboration between Architectuul, an open data architecture community, and Docomomo International, a global non-profit organisation dedicated to the documentation and conservation of buildings, sites and neighbourhoods of the Modern Movement, which is present with national working parties in 79 countries.<fnref n="1" /> Since 1990, Docomomo International has been collecting, researching, and documenting information of over a thousand Modern Movement buildings in systematic 'building fiches', part of which have been published in the Docomomo Journal, biannual international conference proceedings, and several book publications in English and other languages.<fnref n="2" /> Consequently, Docomomo has established itself nationally and internationally as a point of reference and partner for organisations like ICOMOS, UIA or the Getty Conservation Institute. Nevertheless, only a fraction of this rich material is readily accessible in digital form, and over the years, Docomomo has recognised the critical and challenging task of building a sustainable, continually updated, cost-efficient, and openly accessible archive to disseminate this architectural knowledge further across geographies and cultures, beyond the printed versions and local digital repositories.

Architectuul, launched in 2010,<fnref n="3" /> has aimed to devise innovative solutions to the archival dilemma. It began as an open data community project based on the premise of sharing knowledge of buildings and its creators online under a Creative Commons license. Originally created as a crowd-sourced community by a team of architecture enthusiasts, architects, graphic

<footnote n="1">1 Docomomo International. Accessed September 19, 2023, https://docomomo.com/.</footnote>

<footnote n="2">2 Docomomo Journal, Conference Proceedings, Dossiers ICS/T, Books, and Digital Archives can be viewed at, https://docomomo.com/. In 2000, Dennis Sharp and Catherine Cooke compiled the 'Black Book' on Modern Movement Architecture, which includes around 800 entries sourced from the fiches within the Docomomo International Register. Dennis Sharp, and Catherine Cooke, *The Modern Movement in Architecture: Selections from the Docomomo Registers* (Rotterdam: 010 Publishers, 2000).</footnote>

<footnote n="3">3 "About", Architectuul (last updated August 4, 2023). Accessed September 26, 2023, https://architectuul.com/about.</footnote>
designers and software engineers, its archive covers buildings throughout history, from archetypal classics to contemporary projects. All content is sourced by the Architectuul community and curated by a dedicated editorial team. Over time, Architectuul has developed into a leading open data architecture archive.<fnref n="4" /> As a testament to its usefulness for the dissemination of architectural knowledge, Architectuul frequently receives external requests for material usage, attracting renowned institutions like the Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA), Domus publisher, and the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) in London. Thanks to the Architectuul license policy these requests can be granted free of charge.

## PREMISES AND OBJECTIVES OF THE COLLABORATION

The collaborative initiative of Architectuul and Docomomo began with a pledge—an agreement to perpetually offer architectural content freely and openly. Beneath this commitment lies a multitude of questions and challenges. How can an ‘Open Architecture Archive’ be created and maintained, and what does “open” signify in this context? Who bears the responsibility for the content within the archive, and under what licensing agreements can this knowledge be shared? How can the archive foster vibrant user interactions among professionals and enthusiasts, and, critically, how can it be sustained, updated, and kept relevant?

To explore and critically research these issues, Architectuul together with Docomomo Germany (as national working party of Docomomo International), Contineo 2020 (the North Macedonian NGO for the preservation of Modernist architecture in Skopje), and Kaunas 2022 (the European Capital of Culture program of the city of Kaunas), launched the project ‘Forgotten Masterpieces (FOMA)—a living open archive for European Modern Architecture in a joint effort, co-funded by the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA).<fnref n="5" /> It leveraged institutional expertise and cross-cultural connections to curate a digital database. Ultimately, it generated two new open online archives (one for Docomomo<fnref n="6" /> and one for North Macedonia<fnref n="7" />) facilitated by the Architectuul platform and interlinked through an API infrastructure—a dynamic hub for the exchange of architectural knowledge.

This paper presents the collaboration of Architectuul and Docomomo to shed a limelight on the creation and maintenance of open digital architectural archives. It derives insights from the collaborative experience, highlighting the challenges encountered and lessons learned. The

partnership featured a fellowship program designed to educate and foster idea exchange among young heritage professionals, ultimately laying the groundwork for the forthcoming open archive. Navigating the intricacies of digital documentation and knowledge sharing, this endeavour demonstrates that these initiatives go beyond mere preservation of the past, inspiring innovative approaches for broader engagement and contribution within the architectural community. This exploration delves into the notion of ‘open’ within the digital archives for architectural knowledge.

## THE FORGOTTEN MASTERPIECES (FOMA) FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM

The Forgotten Masterpieces (FOMA) Fellowship Program, a six-month immersive experience for young academics and professionals, focused on re-discovering Modern Movement architecture and archives through digital means while reviving the quest for forgotten treasures of twentieth-century architecture in Europe, while forming an integral component of the collaborative efforts between Docomomo and Architectuul. The program aimed to explore and experiment with the digital transformation in documenting architecture, and novel strategies of knowledge generation and dissemination. It leveraged rich cross-cultural connections in collaboration with the participants and scholarly expertise of different and very diverse institutions. Fellows contributed to the development of written and visual material through scientific writing, photography, representations, and digital publishing, providing inputs for creating a digitised database. The program culminated by establishing two open online archives, facilitated by the Architectuul platform, promoting a digitally-supported, collaborative exchange of architectural knowledge.

The methodology of the fellowship program entailed a two-fold approach. The initial stage involved digital data collection, verification, and the creation of comprehensive written and visual materials for archive entries.<fnref n="8" /> The collected data, consisting of texts, drawings, and photographs, posed the main challenge of identifying reliable sources and utilising copyright-free materials. Subsequently, the materials were formatted and organised within a collective database among the fellows, ensuring a streamlined transfer to the Architectuul platform. Through the process, further visualisation and dissemination techniques were explored, mainly by the use of mapping, utilising the archive database. Following the completion of the transition and the establishment of the curated archives online, the fellows worked on refining individual building 'articles' on the Architectuul platform, addressing minor issues arising from technical errors. The second stage of the program comprised of a hybrid discussion and dissemination of results organised as a 24-hour Hackathon<fnref n="9" /> that brought together participants and mentors from

<footnote n="4">4 "Architectuul", Wikipedia (last updated July 5, 2020). Accessed September 26, 2023, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Architectuul.</footnote>

<footnote n="5">5 The project with Docomomo Germany, https://docomomo.de/; Contineo 2020, https://contineo.mk/; Kaunas 2022, https://kaunas2022.eu/en/ was funded by EACEA under the project number: 101056402.</footnote>

<footnote n="6">6 See the Docomomo collection on Architectuul, "Docomomo Modern Architecture Archive". Accessed September 26, 2023, https://docomomo.architectuul.com/.</footnote>

<footnote n="7">7 See the North Macedonia collection on Architectuul, "North Macedonia Modern Architecture Archive". Accessed September 26, 2023, https://northmacedonia.architectuul.com/.</footnote>

<footnote n="8">8 The Docomomo Germany fellows relied on the "Das Neue Frankfurt" map by the Ernst-May-Gesellschaft (http://karte.ernst-may-gesellschaft.de/) and Docomomo 'Documentation Fiches' as their principal sources, complemented by supplementary information and updates sourced from university databases, archival documents, and scholarly publications.</footnote>

<footnote n="9">9 "Forgotten Masterpieces Cultural Hackathon – LINA" (last updated 15 April 2023). Accessed September 26,</footnote>
various locations worldwide in a collaborative environment. The Hackathon, conducted partly online and partly in-person, encouraged participants to explore emerging issues and themes that arose during the archival process.¹⁰ By fostering dialogue among participants, as well as engaging online audiences and experts, this methodology addressed the challenges and implications surrounding architectural archives, including issues of data accessibility, authorship, and copyright while emphasising the need for transparent and collaborative platforms.

In conclusion, the FOMA fellowship program,<fnref n="11" /> in conjunction with the Architectuul platform, represents a forward-thinking initiative to expand the open online archives for architecture communication. By nurturing the collaborative digitisation of architectural data and ways of knowledge sharing, this project has encouraged cooperation and dialogue among young professionals and experts within the architectural community. The project outcomes invite critical reflections on archival practices,<fnref n="12" /> while also inspiring innovative approaches for broader engagement and contribution.

## EXPLORING OPEN DIGITAL ARCHIVES FOR ARCHITECTURAL KNOWLEDGE

One major output of the FOMA fellowship was the exploration of 'open archives' and its benefits and drawbacks. What is an open archive? Documentation involves the systematic collection and organisation of information pertaining to a work, encompassing its condition, content, context, and the preservation measures undertaken. In conservation practices, it is an essential tool for reconstruction and preservation purposes.<fnref n="13" /> Likewise, documentation and inventory building are pivotal in architectural knowledge generation. They serve as vital tools for capturing, organising, and preserving architectural information, including designs, structures, materials, and techniques. Open architecture archives provide

a dynamic platform for enthusiasts, professionals, and scholars to access, contribute, and share architectural content freely. These living repositories evolve with the field, promoting engagement and the ongoing relevance of architectural knowledge.

Expanding on the notion of an 'open archive' within the context of architecture, it's essential to clarify 'openness'. Beyond financial freedom, 'openness' in architectural archives encompasses principles of universal accessibility, unrestricted sharing and collaborative knowledge exchange, and ultimately the application of open licenses. This definition draws inspiration from pioneers in open-source and open-access movements, such as Richard Stallman (Free Software Foundation), Linus Torvalds (Linux), Bruce Perens and Eric S. Raymond (Open Software Initiative), and legal scholars like Lawrence Lessig (Creative Commons).

However, this raises a fundamental question: Who owns the archive? Unlike traditional archives governed by well-established legal frameworks, open architecture archives often challenge conventional ownership boundaries – a repository of collective architectural knowledge that is owned by the architectural community as a whole. This notion reflects the democratic and collaborative ethos of open-source and open-access movements, revolutionising how architectural knowledge is perceived and shared.

On an alternative perspective, collectors are categorised by their choice of collection items and their perspective on the relationships between items in their collection, with some favouring similarity and others embracing diversity. In fields like architecture, where collected artifacts may differ significantly from the final product, this distinction is significant.<fnref n="14" /> This also underscores the importance of recognising the diverse target audiences, making it crucial to distinguish between scholarly-focused archives and community-driven platforms.

## COMPARING DOCOMOMO AND ARCHITECTUUL APPROACHES

Docomomo archives showcase 20th-century modern architecture, providing academic scrutiny and curation, while acknowledging expert perspectives and recognition. Whereas, Architectuul functions as a community-supported/-driven platform, relying on open-source materials. Even so, both archives hold value for both specialists and the general public. Their hierarchical layouts provide a level of control over the depth of information presented.

Docomomo focuses on documentation and conservation of 20th century architecture, specifically from the Modern Movement, and operates through a network of National Working Parties (NPWs) worldwide, allowing for localised expertise and regional-specific documentation. They use standardised formats, known as 'Documentation Fiches' for data collection

<footnote>2023, https://lina.community/programme/event/36/forgotten-masterpieces-cultural-hackathon/. The Hackathon consisted of various sessions in which a 'digital champion' (fellow) was paired with an external mentor to address specific digitisation concerns related to Forgotten Masterpieces. This included efforts to enhance data verification, improve keyword search functionality, and refine methods for defining architectural characteristics. Additionally, the program sparked discussions on the subjects of continuity, promotion, AI-tools, protection-transformation barometer, all of which deserve further attention in archive building. See "FOMA: Cultural Hackathon", Architectuul (last updated 26 April 2023). Accessed September 19, 2023, https://architectuul.com/digest/foma-cultural-hackathon.</footnote>

<footnote n="11">11 See the Lithuanian fellows who worked on an archive for Modern Architecture in Kaunas, "FOMA - virtual archive - Modernism for the Future | Kaunas 2022". Accessed September 26, 2023, https://modernizmasateiciai.lt/en/virtual-archive/.</footnote>

<footnote n="12">12 The Docomomo Germany fellows also authored concise essays regarding digital documentation and publishing within the context of the Modern Movement, sharing their reflections and further exploring the questions raised during the FOMA experience. They highlighted themes like mapping the archive, employing AI-tools and ChatGPT to enhance documentation, and addressing issues related to reproduction and Creative Commons licensing. These essays will be published by TH-OWL: Uta Pottgiesser, Anica Dragutinovic, and OWL University of Applied Sciences, eds. *MoMove Modern Movement and Digital Archives*. Presented at the 20th Docomomo Germany Conference. Lemgo: Technische Hochschule Ostwestfalen-Lippe, 2023.</footnote>

<footnote n="13">13 Annet Dekker, "Methodologies of Multimedial Documentation and Archiving." in *Preserving and Exhibiting Media Art: Challenges and Perspectives*, eds. Julia Noordegraaf, Cosetta G. Saba, Barbara Le Maître, and Vinzenz Hediger, (Amsterdam University Press, 2013), 149-95. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt6wp6f3.12.</footnote>

<footnote n="14">14 Matt Roam, "You Are How You Collect", *Perspecta* 48 (2015): 161-69. http://www.jstor.org/stable/45215807.</footnote>
to maintain consistency in recording architectural information.<fnref n="15" /> This structured outline is particularly suitable for a digital archive, as it enables various categorisations and filtering options for the collected information. In 2015, Docomomo International has adapted to the fast-paced digital landscape and globalisation by expanding its role as an international platform, offering new online channels for dissemination and knowledge exchange, and creating the Docomomo Virtual Exhibition (MoMove). This initiative aimed to consolidate the information collected by the NWPs, unifying the dispersed archives for cohesive online presentation and dissemination.

In contrast, Architectuul has a broader scope, covering various architectural styles and historical periods, and serves as an open data project promoting the free sharing of architectural content online. It encourages community contributions and user engagement, allowing users to add, curate, and freely access architectural information. While it prioritises architectural documentation, it also fosters a community of architecture enthusiasts for knowledge sharing and discussions.

In today's expansive contemporary digital archives, emphasising their distinct aesthetic character is crucial. This uniqueness changes how individuals interact with information and underscores the importance of well-designed access and organisational systems, preventing it from becoming a generic evidence repository.<fnref n="16" /> Numerous scholarly initiatives are exploring the use of digital tools for sharing research findings and improving audience engagement.<fnref n="17" /> Leveraging contemporary digital visualisation and communication technologies, including websites, apps, films, and immersive experiences like 360-degree images, virtual reality, and gamification, these efforts experiment innovative means to protect and celebrate recent architectural heritage.<fnref n="18" />

Both initiatives, Docomomo and Architectuul, share a commitment to open archives in architecture, emphasising accessibility and openness in architectural documentation, but they differ in their specific focus, organisational structure, and community engagement approach. Maintaining an open architecture archive involves multiple facets, encompassing technical infrastructure, content management, quality assurance, backup strategies, and user support. Contributors, curators, moderators, and platform providers share responsibility for the archive's content, typically

under open licenses like Creative Commons, enabling sharing, reuse, and adaptation. Engagement is encouraged and stimulated through community forums, user-generated content, and interactive features. Ensuring the archive's long-term sustainability requires active dissemination through various channels, regular updates, collaborative maintenance, and a commitment to improved archival practices, all collectively contributing to the ongoing relevance and vitality.

## CONCLUSION

In the next phase of their collaboration, Architectuul and Docomomo International are embarking on an ambitious journey to further implement the 'Open Architecture Archive'. This transformative initiative aims to shift 32 years of documentation, including fiches, photographs, and articles, by translating them into the digital era as Registers 4.0. To achieve this and explore the possibilities, AI-tools may play a pivotal role, automating content tagging, offering content recommendations, and enhancing quality control. Through content analysis and tagging, AI simplifies categorisation and facilitates searches within the archive. Moreover, it provides users with relevant content suggestions based on their interests and search history, encouraging exploration and broadening the archive's audience reach. Additionally, AI can assist in maintaining content quality by identifying errors, inconsistencies, or missing information, thus ensuring the accuracy and reliability of archive materials.

This evolution prompts critical questions: will it mark a paradigm shift for organisations like Docomomo, transitioning from 'expert documentation' to 'open crowd documentation'? Furthermore, the challenge of migrating the existing data, which includes partly proprietary Docomomo archives like the NWPs, into the Open Archive will undoubtedly be an essential aspect of this ambitious journey. It will inevitably raise questions regarding ownership rights within distinct national or regional initiatives, and individual efforts.

<footnote n="15">15 Docomomo International formulated two distinct formats: the "Minimum Documentation Fiche" and the "Maximum" or "Full Documentation Fiche". Both contain similar sections tailored for the digital archive, with the latter offering more comprehensive details. The shared outline in both fiches helps structure the information collected, covering aspects such as the identity of the building/group of buildings/urban scheme/landscape/garden, history of the building, description, evaluation, and documentation. The fiche report at the end acknowledges the reporter's contribution.</footnote>

<footnote n="16">16 Sylvia Lavin. "Today We Collect Everything." *Perspecta* 48 (2015): 182–91. http://www.jstor.org/stable/45215809.</footnote>

<footnote n="17">17 Uta Pottgiesser, Anica Dragutinovic, Marzia Loddo, and OWL University of Applied Sciences, eds. *MoMove Modern Movement and Infrastructure*. Lemgo: Technische Hochschule Ostwestfalen-Lippe, 2021. https://doi.org/10.25644/3m9j-0f94.</footnote>

<footnote n="18">18 Uta Pottgiesser, Anica Dragutinovic, and OWL University of Applied Sciences, eds. *MoMove Modern Movement and Industrial Heritage*. Lemgo: Technische Hochschule Ostwestfalen-Lippe, 2022. https://doi.org/10.25644/4d3d-2v96.</footnote>
<figure><img src="image_53.png" /><figcaption>Martynas Plepys for 'Ekskursas', 'Institute of Industrial Planning and Construction', Kaunas, 2016.</figcaption></figure>

Algimantas Grigas (Kaunas University of Technology)

# Ghost Archives of Socialist Modernism in Lithuania: Unsolicited Accounting of Centralised Planning Institutes' Project Documentation

The archives of centralised planning institutes are fundamental in order to fully measure the legacy of the architectural production in Soviet occupied Lithuania between 1945 and 1990. These archives contain crucial information about the essence of architectural practice: design decisions, the level of craftsmanship, relevance in meeting society's needs and the supervision structure of the authors. It is important to stress that Socialist Modernist architecture was created under a constant exchange with peer architects and would usually be validated at the internal, critical Architectural Councils. There is a need to safeguard all documentation containing early, preliminary and technical implementation project design phases, so that the full network of authors and registration of the external impact and improvements can be identified. Maintaining an accessible architectural design archive, from materials produced at all centralised planning institutes, would contribute to the open culture and on-going research of architectural history in Lithuania. This article describes and applies criticism to the uncontrolled diminution and dispersion of architectural archives in Lithuania during the Soviet-era. Apart from total deletion, what are the errors made when dealing with the so-called ghost archives? An analysis of such phenomenon is expected to result in proposals for strategies that would encapsulate the future infinite semiosis of the Socialist Modernist architecture inheritance.

## BACKGROUND

From 1945 to 1990, the repressive Soviet occupation of Central and Eastern European countries, including the three Baltic States, imposed a political propaganda that directly shaped the production of a new physical environment. The common historiography of Socialist Modernist architecture in the Baltics has been thoroughly recounted in monographs by several architectural historians.<fnref n="1" /> While Estonia and Latvia have their national

<footnote n="1">1 Vaidas Petrulis, Marija Drémaitė, and Juratė Tutlytė, eds., *Architektūra Sovietinėje Lietuvoje* [Architecture in the Soviet Lithuania], (Vilnius: Vilniaus dailės akademijos leidykla, 2012); Marija Drémaitė, *Baltic Modernism: Architecture and Housing in Soviet Lithuania, Basics 56* (Berlin: DOM publishers, 2017); Mart Kalm, *Eesti 20.sajandi arhitektuur* [Estonian Architecture of XX Century], (Tallinn: Eesti Kunstiakadeemia, 2001); Ritter Katahrina, Steiner Dietmar et al, *Soviet Modernism 1955–1991: Unknown History*, (Zürich, Park Books, 2012);</footnote>
Museums of Architecture, Lithuania has lost its physically represented Museum of Architecture (1968–2006). After its closure, the late director Morta Baužienė recounted: ‘The National Museum took over a collection of 55,500 architectural items. Later however, and without the approval of the National Museum, it turned out that about 20,000 items were transferred to the Vilnius Regional State Archives.’<fnref n="2" /> Upon closure, the museum’s collection, with a rich and large number of Socialist Modernist architecture models and design boards, was dispersed through various state institutions and private stakeholders; all of which do not necessarily engage with active dissemination of documentation. Baužienė explained that ‘(...) the job of architectural historians was made a lot more difficult. Lithuania was left without an institution capable of making a serious architectural exhibition (...).’<fnref n="3" /> Today one of the leading agents in forming architectural culture in Lithuania is the ‘Architecture Fund’, but they do not have an adequate physical representation space.<fnref n="4" /> a number of virtual attempts to replace the Museum of Architecture co-exist in Lithuania, but they lack measurable impact in real life, long term planning, and commitment to a continuous curatorial strategy.<fnref n="5" /> Since the beginning of 2023, and with the support of the architectural community, the Lithuanian Minister of Culture is trying to establish a ‘Centre of Architecture’ at the now unused main Post Office (F. Vizbaras, 1931) in Kaunas. While history is in the making, the personal archives of architects are in flux as well.<fnref n="6" /> Also, following Russia’s attack on Ukraine, the archives of Lithuanian Socialist Modernism or anything related to the troublesome Soviet period are deemed increasingly redundant.<fnref n="7" />

## A TOUR GUIDE OR A STALKER

In the late autumn of 2016, an informal initiative ‘Ekskursas’ – specialising in public architectural tours – announced an exclusive visit to the building of the ‘Institute of Industrial Planning and Construction’ (IIPC) in Kaunas (A. Sprindys and V. Stauskas, 1959–1966).<fnref n="8" /> It was the last chance to see

the building in its original but empty state, as the whole complex was bought by a large real estate developer for a major reconstruction. Some of the rooms had heavy metal cupboards and stacks of drawers where the internal archives were once stored though these were empty at the time of the visit. It took another five years to discover that various documents, including data from the separate ‘Institute of City Planning and Construction’ (ICPC), were moved to an empty, non-heated, Soviet-era administrative building. However, in the winter of 2020, notified about the intended demolition of this old administrative building, architectural historian Paulius Tautvydas Laurinaitis initiated the informal safeguarding of the remaining folders from the dust, humidity, and potential destruction. In terms of the legitimacy of this act, there was no official request to deal with these folders, just a group of dedicated people who discreetly collaborated in order to protect the documents from the dump. During winter 2020 and spring 2021, several tonnes of construction and architectural drawings, representing ICPC and IIPC activity from 1970 to 1990, were moved to the Institute of Architecture and Construction (IAC), where the material is currently stored in cardboard boxes.

The relevance and usefulness of these papers and technical drawings was highlighted in 2021, when the architectural guided tours initiative ‘Ekskursas’ hosted a series of walks around the ‘Socialist Modernist’ buildings in Kaunas. Complicated library and archive research on one particular building – ‘T.Masiulis Elementary School’ building (A. Blūšius, 1981) – provided scant information about it, until a full copy of the project documentation was found, which led to a meeting with the architect. As '[t]he architectural drawings at that time were slick and impressively performed on paper' the architect used them to persuade his colleagues.<fnref n="9" /> It was an exceptional case of showing how architectural motives (design, responding to the aesthetic and humanistic needs of the society) superseded the political will (to build typified design, cheaper, faster) in the Soviet Lithuania. Without the technical documentation as proof, the story would remain just a story heard in an interview.

## UNDISCLOSED ADDRESS TO AVOID LOOTING

A ghost archive can be a private archive of an architect that is not fully indexed, or a set of documents held now from a no longer existing institution. One such archive, from what used to be ‘Institute of Communal Economy Planning’ (ICEP) Kaunas branch, is now managed and controlled by a private company run by ICEP’s former director. In the basement of a discreet building, officially unaccounted for in 2023, lay the vast archives of ICEP from its inception in 1962 until 1991. Rows of wooden shelves, with a surviving index, are filled with folders. In 1993, a decree by the then Minister of Environment ordered this particular archive to be dismantled and destroyed. However, understanding the years of hard work put into the projects and designs of the city, the former director recounted that with the help of his employees, the documents were secretly moved from the

<footnote n="2">2 Morta Baužienė, “Pamokanti Architektūros muziejaus sunaikinimo istorija” [Lessons to be learned from the destruction of the Architecture Museum], *Kultūros paminklai* / 23 (2019): 84.</footnote>

<footnote n="3">3 Baužienė, “Pamokanti Architektūros muziejaus sunaikinimo istorija”, 84.</footnote>

<footnote n="4">4 Architecture Fund is a Lithuanian non-governmental organisation, established in 2004, actively engaged since 2010 with separate fields of activity through invited lectures, youth education, exhibitions, publications, https://old.archfondas.lt/en/.</footnote>

<footnote n="5">5 Such can be named: autc.lt (hosted by IAC, est. 2009), arch-muziejus.lt (est. 2011), on the occasion of ‘Kaunas European Capital of Culture 2022’ opened modernizmasateiciai.lt (est. 2019), and others smaller, specialised archimede.lt (est. 2013), miestai.net (discussion platform with user uploaded content), mmcentras.lt (est. 2015).</footnote>

<footnote n="6">6 At the end end 2022, Kaunas saw two architectural exhibitions, dedicated to Jurgis Rimvydas Palys and Eugenijus Simas Miliūnas. Both of them started their professional careers in the Soviet Lithuania, at the centralised planning institutes. There are signs and talks about ‘appropriation’ of their archival drawings and production for the upcoming ‘Centre of Architecture’, but there are no further details when it will open. Consequently a question arises of who will take custody of their archival material and how.</footnote>

<footnote n="7">7 Semen Shyrochyn, *Kyiv: Architectural Guide. 100 Iconic Buildings since 1925*, (DOM Publishers, 2023). Shyrochyn has visited numerous events around Europe as a guest speaker in 2023 declaring the emergency state of architectural heritage of the Soviet era in Ukraine. Due to the war, the Ukrainians despise anything Soviet and destroy monumental art works, sculptures or have no second thoughts to rebuild Soviet architectural heritage.</footnote>

<footnote n="8">8 Rūta Leitanaitė, Julija Réklaitė, and Giedré Jankevičiūtė, *Kaunas 1918–2015: Architektūros Gidas* (Vilnius: Lapas, 2015), 188.</footnote>

<footnote n="9">9 Arūnas Blūšius, unpublished interview, conducted by Algimantas Grigas, 7 June, 2021, around 16:00.</footnote>
ICEP headquarters to a new location and documents signed to say that the archive was deleted.<fnref n="10" /> At the time, the ICEP was responsible for various reconstructions of historic (though not heritage-listed) buildings, and small scale architectural interventions such as street kiosks and public furniture etc. The current caretaker of the archive expressed the will to transfer this true ghost archive to a trustworthy institution in Kaunas in the future but so far, no suitable or willing candidate has been identified.

## DETECTIVE RESEARCH: TRACES AND PROOF OF EXISTENCE

The main branch of ICEP in Vilnius on the other hand is a regrettable example of how archives can be dispersed or even lost. Immediately following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Vilnius ICEP was split into three private companies: 'Komprojektas', 'Vilprojektas' and 'Archiplanas'. The first stopped rather quickly, but managed to transfer administrative documents and selected design documentation to the Central State Archive in Vilnius by 1993. The second company still functions today and a conversation with its director uncovered the fact that project-leading architects over time took home some project materials.<fnref n="11" /> The third company was bought by a construction company 'Vėtrunė' a couple of years ago and it is not known how much of its original documentation has survived.

To understand the complexity of paths in which the original documentation of Vilnius ICEP travelled, a descriptive analysis example is presented:<fnref n="12" /> from the perspective of a single year's documents held in the Central State Archive in Vilnius, there are 28 projects documented that started or ended in 1972. These are all apartment blocks, public buildings (schools) or projects related with the reconstruction of buildings in Vilnius Old Town. However, the ICEP archive of 1972 contains 105 orders (indicated by the document numbers) issued in relation to the planning and organisation of work. Therefore, it can be deducted that only a small number of all of ICEP's 1972's projects entered the Central State Archive. Another hypothesis for the low number of projects in the Central State Archive is that some projects relating to public design and small scale architecture were deemed too insignificant to include in the archive. Closer inspection of the file contents of the 1972 projects revealed that they rarely contained a full set of documents, which would normally include (depending on the type and size of the project): GP (site plan), AS (architectural-construction), IN (interior design), EP (early design phase), PP (preliminary design phase), RAS (restoration), MG (wood and metal details), TN (technological), ŠV (heating and ventilation), VK (water and sewage), EL (electricity installation), D (gasification), PV (tactical ventilation, firefighting). At this stage we do not have sufficient information to conclude whether certain technical or early design phase documentation was deleted while actually at the institute, or if it was lost during transfer between physical spaces.

## STRUCTURING THE INCOMPLETE: HOARDING OR ARCHIVING

Technical documentation of architectural design and spatial planning during the Soviet occupation can make up large sets of data, as each of Lithuania's four largest cities had their own ICPC, IIPC and ICEP branches. While this research touched upon the Kaunas examples, other regional assets of architectural historiography continue to be unaccounted for, or are gradually devalued to the point of being completely dismissed. Currently there is no public body or institution to oversee these processes, and more importantly to implement a national strategic action plan to safeguard the physical records of Socialist Modernist projects in Lithuania. Working with discovered but unaccounted for archival material, the usual mind-set is to think 'I have everything here', but in reality, a much more complex picture prevails, as over time the archive materials have been carelessly depleted through items being lost, unreturned, or privatised (stolen) during the period of political transition.

The technical architectural drawings provide a glimpse into the history of architecture, what kind of tools were used, and how the development of architectural craftsmanship was performed.<fnref n="13" /> It can be argued that the piles of dull-looking, technical project documentation folders can represent a non-conventional form of history. In practical studies of urban environment, the files can help uncover at least three modes: (1) unbuilt vision, (2) contrast between what was built and how the project appeared on paper, and (3) a documented attempt to produce human scale architecture by Lithuanian architects in the context of limiting factors. When current studies on physical environment are overlaid with social, cultural or gender histories, the rich, research potential that lies within technical documentation – accessed through these three modes of study – is yet to be uncovered.

## A WORD ON ETHICS OF RESEARCH

The ambiguous state of Socialist Modernism archives implies an unregulated nature of scientific research. Currently selected actors can attempt to track and claim the archival resources for themselves for self-use, which could be a threat in limiting public access. Without an authoritative major institution, pragmatic individual 'appropriation of archives' for architectural research is clearly a concern. There is a real fear that institutions or single researchers might race to become the first or sole holders of archival material which would grant them the power to control, write projects, gain funding and consequently form the narrative around the research subject. This provides an additional stimulus to open a well-respected institution, like a 'Centre

<footnote n="10">10 Antanas Veselka, unpublished interview conducted by Algimantas Grigas, 25 November, 2021.</footnote>

<footnote n="11">11 Audrius Navidauskas, unpublished interview on telephone with the director of 'Vilprojektas', conducted by Algimantas Grigas, 3 November, 2021.</footnote>

<footnote n="12">12 The archived projects span 1944 to 1993: https://eais.archyvai.lt/repo-ext/view/295889</footnote>

<footnote n="13">13 During Open House Vilnius, 13–14 May, 2023, it was possible to visit the Ministry of Agriculture of Republic of Lithuania (architect N.Bučiūtė, 1962–1967) and see a typical draughtspersons work cabinet. On the table one could see personal objects of N.Bučiūtė, typical tools for an architect of Soviet occupied Lithuania: a ruler with a rolling cylinder for parallel projections, a double-edged safety razor (for literal cutting out drawing errors from the surface of paper), https://www.openhousevilnius.lt/programa/lietuvos-respublikos-zemes-ukio-ministerija/.</footnote>
of Architecture' which would smooth out the individual rivalries between institutions or researchers and ensure that the highest quality of scientific research and behaviour is conducted through regulated practices, and with openness and transparency.

## CONCLUSION

Tackling the ghost archives of Lithuania's Soviet-era centralised planning institutes will allow us to uncover the full extent of the problems inherent in carrying out an audit of the most valuable parts of the architectural design projects and their legacy. The specificity is in the way architects were forced to work: navigating between political commissions and architectural ambitions all dispersed amongst early, preliminary, technical and construction phases. On top of that was a continuous informal influence from team members and engineers at the planning institutes, where architects and engineers used to work in larger teams, influencing each other, producing internal competitions, rivalry and qualitative criticism. As a result, it is a short-sighted strategy to form the archival record only through core drawings (like a site plan and/or architectural-construction plan/section/elevation of the project) as future researchers will be biased and hindered by this flat understanding. We know that during the Soviet-Era, building projects and typified designs were the products of a collective creation, and yet today's architectural historiography, architectural guides, and digital data bases attribute just one or two main authors. Future research of Socialist Modernist architecture will need to expand the views on the context (various administrative documents from centralised planning institutes), multitudes of voices (conducting interviews with non-architects and cross-checking facts) and, most importantly, safeguarding the physical documentation copies of architectural production – drawings, project descriptions and technical planning – to their full extent before they disappear into dust.

<figure><img src="image_54.png" /></figure>
<figure><img src="image_55.png" /><figcaption>Martha Levisman in ARCA-FADU, photograph taken between 1998 and 2001.
Martha Levisman Fund, Di Tella Architecture Archive.</figcaption></figure>

# Unboxing the Martha Levisman Collection: A Case of Cultural Activism arrives at the Di Tella Architecture Archive

This text delves into the symbiotic relationship between an archive, an archivist, and a collection. Specifically, the connection between the ARCA archive, archivist Martha Levisman, and architect Alejandro Bustillo. This investigation took place in the context of the reception of Martha Levisman's documentary collection at the Di Tella Architecture Archive as an initial operation known as unboxing, which serves as an opportunity to construct an unstable and speculative cartography. In this case, the cartography forms the foundation for questioning institutional responsibility, disciplinary recognition, and the affective activism of those who manage collections.

## A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF MARTHA LEVISMAN'S COLLECTION

In 2023, Martha Levisman's three sons donated a diverse range of documents to the Di Tella Architecture Archive. Levisman (1933-2022) was an architect, archivist, restorer, curator, publicist, and architectural critic in Argentina often described as a controversial and eccentric figure.<fnref n="1" /> Her name has been associated with Alejandro Bustillo (1889-1982) since the late 1970s when he decided to donate his entire body of work to her after his death, sparking her interest in archives and laying the base for the history of architectural archives in Argentina.<fnref n="2" /> The majority of this initial donation – over 10,000 plans and drawings and a thousand photographs – now constitute the Alejandro Bustillo Collection, which was donated to the Torcuato Di Tella University's Library in 2012, forming one of the two foundational collections of the Di Tella Architecture Archive ten years later.

In its preliminary inventory state, the Levisman collection can be divided into six major groups:

1. 'Bustillo' refers to the material Levisman retained after the donation to Di Tella in 2012.

<footnote n="1">1. According to different conversations with colleagues of Martha Levisman during July-August 2023.</footnote>

<footnote n="2">2. Along with the work of Susana Castillo y Lucrecia Guarreras, who started in 1993 to digitise and catalogue State architecture at the CeDIAP (Center for Documentation and Research of State Architecture), and Marta García Falcó, who was the first director of the archive at the SCA (Central Society of Architects) in 1994.</footnote>
2. 'Other Architects' comprises documentation of canonical works from the first half of the 20th century in Argentina (it is unclear how Levisman acquired these documents).

3. 'Exhibitions' includes minutes, photographs, and brochures from exhibitions held between 1982 and 2002 when Levisman served as an independent curator and academic secretary at the Faculty of Architecture, Design, and Urbanism at the University of Buenos Aires (FADU).

4. 'Personal' consists of Levisman's independent work as an architect and restorer: personal diaries, correspondence, lecture notes from when she was a student and a teacher, diplomas, travel photographs, various newspaper clippings related to restoration, herself, or architecture in general.

5. 'Design' constitutes the compilations and research for the book *Diseño y producción de mobiliario argentino, 1930-1970* published in 2015.

6. 'ARCA' gathers the records, inventories, processes, and contracts of the architecture archive founded by Levisman in 1995 alongside conservator Adriana Ten Hoeve and architect Pablo Beitía.

Within a set of boxes some photos stand out. They aren't architectural records but were taken at the FADU. A control tape is affixed between two doors to restrict access. These photos document a traumatic event for Levisman—the closure of ARCA's institutional phase, which had been absorbed by the faculty between 1998 and 2002.<fnref n="3" /> This forced the collection to move from the university to a warehouse and later to Levisman's residence and personal studio. Instead of designating a specific location where the documents could be deposited and preserved, the archive became mobile, dynamic, and intimate. As a result, Bustillo's photo albums from Paris at the beginning of the twentieth century, for example, were stored in boxes in Levisman's closet and could be consulted upon demand in her bedroom in a cozy yet precarious exhibition. According to Argentine philosopher Grüner: "Someone must assume the role of 'owner', let's say, an honorary one. It's not common, in this space of imaginary recognitions, for the custodian-owner to remember that books or artworks, before being a (public or private) property, are the expression of a human experience, often taken to the very edge of what normalised, institutional' use of words or images can tolerate."<fnref n="4" />

The architectural archive and the personal belongings became intertwined to the point where distinguishing them became difficult. Ultimately, when these materials reached the Di Tella Architecture Archive, they did not form

a distinct collection but were inseparable from the personal fund. What does this mean for the document's trajectory? How do personal contingencies merge with the institutional construction of an archive? What can we learn from this important yet marginalised story of institutional memory?

## A FOUNDING MYTH: ALEJANDRO BUSTILLO'S NATIONAL ARCHITECTURE

Much of Alejandro Bustillo's work consists of landmarks in the Argentinian collective memory, such as the Central Bank of Argentina, the Rambla and Casino in Mar del Plata, or the Llao Llao Hotel in Bariloche. Most of his private commissions, residences and rental houses in uptown Buenos Aires as well as the estates and infrastructure in the Pampa region, came from the local agro-exporting elite of which he himself was part of. In both his theoretical writings and monumental works, Bustillo proposed a 'national classic style' that corroborates a line of thought of an antimodern nature that had been supported by the way in which he produced his works.<fnref n="5" />

He was a vocal opponent of the *moderns*, for whom, in the words of Francisco Bullrich, «National expression, for this reason, cannot and will not be the result of a program or theoretical preconception, which can only result in clichés».<fnref n="6" /> From the 1950s onwards, his presence and recognition declined until he was rediscovered in the late 1970s and early 1980s, as historicist revision of architecture and harsh criticism of the Modern Movement gained momentum. During the period of *La Escuelita*,<fnref n="7" /> the first exhibition of Alejandro Bustillo's work was organised in 1982. It was curated and organised by Levisman.

Thus, Bustillo's work presented itself as both constitutive and operational in the original construction of Argentine architecture, in a futile search for 'national architecture' that Levisman perpetuated by both publishing the book *Bustillo: un proyecto de arquitectura nacional (Bustillo - a National Architecture Project, 2007)* and also by adopting the idea or need of establishing a national collection. In 2000, Levisman stated in a conference at ICA/PAR during the World Congress of Archives: 'We, in Argentina, are in the initial stage of the central theme of this panel. We are gathering collections, reflecting on our heritage, and "thinking" about the best way to approach appraisal given certain particular characteristics of our archival material. This is an excellent opportunity to find identifying traits and differentiate our national production from international design and architectural history, highlighting contents and programs. Our heritage is diverse and heterogeneous and is scattered within a chaotic order that characterises the diversity of Latin America'.<fnref n="8" />

<footnote n="3">3 Interview with the author in April 2022.</footnote>

<footnote n="4">4 Grüner, Eduardo. "Ni Caverna, ni laberinto: Biblioteca" in *La Biblioteca*, No. 1, (Buenos Aires: Summer 2004-2005, 24). Translation by the author.</footnote>

<footnote n="5">5 Shmidt, Claudia. "Consideraciones tardías. Lecturas filosóficas en la arquitectura de Alejandro Bustillo", 2007. https://cdsa.aacademica.org/000-108/428.pdf [Accessed 1.09.2023]</footnote>

<footnote n="6">6 Bullrich, Francisco. "Arquitectura Argentina, hoy" in *Summa*, (No. 1, 1963, 56). Translation by the author.</footnote>

<footnote n="7">7 La Escuelita was a secular teaching space and private center founded when public universities were intervened by the military government after the coup in 1976.</footnote>

<footnote n="8">8 Translation by the author.</footnote>
The Bustillo Collection was transferred to Levisman in 1982; the name ARCA emerged in 1995; the civil association, registered under the same name, was established in 1997. It is an acronym for *Archivos de Arquitectura Contemporánea Argentina* (Archive of Contemporary Argentine Architecture). The name is a creative way of questioning the difference, or intentional synonymy, between archive and architecture (the inscription of place), while also openly addressing the obsession that links the archive with the ark and the quest for an origin. As Derrida canonised in *Archive Fever*, archive comes from *arkhé*, which refers to both ‘beginning’ and ‘mandate’, meaning ‘where things begin’ and ‘where people give orders’. In this sense, the disposition of the *arkhé* is intimately linked to the unfolding of myth. According to Andrés Tello, the social machinery of the archive works similarly to the mythological machine by instituting the symbolic elements that enable the reproduction of various founding myths of a community in order to establish an apparent origin to hierarchise and classify records.<fnref n="9" /> It is also noteworthy that ‘contemporary’ is chosen in the organisation’s title. On the one hand, this reflects the desire to belong and participate in the present, and on the other hand, it avoids the complexity of ‘modern’, as Bustillo reluctantly fits into that category only due to temporal coexistence. Moreover, if one replaces ‘contemporary’ with ‘modern’, it becomes ARMA (weapon in Spanish), which interestingly is how Levisman characterised archives in one of her notebooks: ‘The archive is a weapon that the government must maintain’.

## SITUATED PRESERVATIONISM: ARCA'S UNRELENTING QUEST FOR INSTITUTIONALISATION

Everything pointed to ARCA finding a permanent home at the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Buenos Aires, where ARCA-FADU was established in early 1998. Cautiously, Levisman had set up the civil association in December of the previous year as a legal and independent entity, indicating distrust towards local institutions. It resided there for four years in a comfortable space of 120 square meters with a treasury, a consultation room, and a panoramic view of the Río de la Plata. These four years were marked by intense work, archive professionalisation, and diversification of tasks: new collections were acquired, catalogued, and a database system was adopted, which Levisman had brought from her active participation in the ICAM (International Confederation of Architectural Museums) congresses.

In an interview shortly before Levisman passed away in June 2022, twenty years after her dismissal, she only wanted to talk about that episode: a bitter memory that brings us back to questions of institutionalisation and permanence. The then Dean, architect Berardo Dujovne, declined

to comment on the matter.<fnref n="10" /> There is no official explanation for the dismissal; it could have been due to lack of funding, human resources, or political disagreements. However, the unstable recognition of local heritage work and the safeguarding of its documents as the memory of a disciplinary and professional practice are causes for concern.

ARCA's trajectory was marked by a constant search for sponsorships, from the National Academy of Fine Arts between 1995 and 1997, to the Ministry of Worship and the Professional Council of Architecture and Urbanism in 2002, to name a few. Their responses, though always positive, resulted in verbal support without significant resolutions, funding, or responsible future forecasts.

Documentary archives in Argentina fluctuate on the compass of the shifts in a precarious cultural policy. Recognition, or 'imaginary recognitions' as Grüner argues, are scarce, sporadic, and the fate of documents often depends, especially in the case discussed here, on that symbiotic, affective, and personal relationship. ARCA existed within the realm of its documents, scattered throughout the city in different residential and work locations: ARCA was an archive without a place. The former director of the National Library in Argentina, Horacio González, called 'situated preservation': '[the] preservation that is also imbued with scepticism about the progress of cultures and institutions. [...] In the obscure dialectic of archives, the collector plays the role of the state as both accumulator and guardian, simultaneously with the role of fervent and manic thief'.<fnref n="11" />

In this sense, the archivist's attachment overflows the attempts of institutionalising and can be understood as a form of cultural activism. Lucas Saporosi investigates the epistemological implications and methodological construction of an affective archive, which are essential for coming closer to understanding the agency of the archivist. Drawing on the idea of affective economies, he focuses on 'how emotions and affects record an accumulation of value that does not reside in the objects but is the effect of their circulation and contact'.<fnref n="12" /> The analysis emphasises on the mechanisms of emotion production to understand their distribution circuits and the social situations and contexts of reception. In this sense, the Alejandro Bustillo collection embodies the institutional setbacks of ARCA and its biased yet dedicated construction by Levisman. It matters how the collections are sustained, situated, and reproduced; it is a warning and a call for cultural activism in the context of poorly designed or non-existing policies in institutions that increasingly witness the displacement of local archives.

<footnote n="9">9 Tello, Andrés. *Anarchivismo: Tecnologías políticas del archivo* (Adrogué: La Cebra, 2018, 53). On another note, also in architectural history, the ark, as an archetypal construction model, challenges the myth of the Vitruvian primitive hut (Liernur, Francisco. "El Arca de Noé. La controversia sobre el incómodo origen Oriental de la Arquitectura de Occidente." Unpublished.)</footnote>

<footnote n="10">10 Interview with Berardo Dujovne in August 2023.</footnote>

<footnote n="11">11 González, Horacio. "El archivo como teoría de la cultura" in *La Biblioteca*, No. 1, (Buenos Aires: Summer 2004-2005, 66). Translation by the author.</footnote>

<footnote n="12">12 Saporosi, Lucas. "Implicancias epistemológicas y reflexiones metodológicas en torno a la construcción de un archivo afectivo" in *Crítica Contemporánea: Revista de teoría política* (Buenos Aires: Dec. 2017, 142)</footnote>
<figure><img src="image_56.png" /><figcaption>Tbilisi by Ramaz Kiknadze, 1970, edited version.</figcaption></figure>

# Unpacking Soviet architecture collections: Tbilisi Architecture Archive

As defined by Suzan Briet in her 1951 manifesto 'Qu'est-ce que la documentation?', documents are "a proof in support of a fact",<fnref n="1" /> intended to represent, reconstruct or demonstrate a physical or intellectual phenomenon. Free access to historical information kept in archival documents is crucial not only for every society but also for every discipline. Thus, documents that are valuable to architecture should be accessible, as this is the only way to obtain an evidence in order to produce different versions of the past and present. They may also help us to come up with possibilities and alternative strategies for dealing with the built environment in the future. Only the accessibility and visibility of such documents reveal the traces that can be recorded, interpreted and retold. The documents are in this way re-contextualised, and thus previously unknown narratives and connections emerge in the process. Although they contain stories that may be contradictory, may be various, may change and be presented in multiple ways, while the item itself stays the same. If there is no institution, that collects, organises, selects, describes and makes them available, as well as provides a systematic access and takes care of them, the data will be lost, along with the stories and knowledge the documents carry.

Nowadays such systematic access to architecture data is mainly concentrated in Western Europe and North America, where the majority of Architectural Centres and Archives with significant collections of documents are to be found. There are far more architectural archives in Germany than in all post-Soviet countries combined. Institutions like these play an important role in increasing the appreciation of certain architecture movements, styles and traditions. They give status to particular persons and buildings. Even if certain institutions pursue different strategies, their aim is to increase visibility for architecture and the built environment. The absence of such institutions means a great loss for the local architecture historiography and knowledge. Imagine, what it would look like, if there were no architecture archives, centres or museums at all? If there were several scattered collections waiting to be found and used? If these hidden collections would contain relevant and important knowledge that could help us understand the past and lead us into the future?

<footnote n="1">1 Suzanne Briet, *What is Documentation? English Translation of the Classic French Text* (Lanham: Scarecrow Press, 2006), 9.</footnote>
GEORGIAN CASE

The accessibility of archival materials is particularly important in a context where processes of memory formation happened very rapidly and the examination of past events is impulsive. After the fall of the Soviet Union, the former Soviet republic of Georgia entered a severe political, economic and social crisis. In the early 1990s, during the military conflict also known as the Tbilisi War, which took place in the newly established independent Republic of Georgia, the government quarter, KGB-building and archives kept there were destroyed.<fnref n="2" /> At the same time several museums and archival collections were burned down.<fnref n="3" /> Since then, the state-run design bureaus and institutions of Soviet Georgia have dissolved one after the other. Most of them have been victims of a rampant privatisation of buildings and closures of offices. The architecture archives, which were kept there, has been scattered.

Most of the historical archives are currently preserved at the National Archives of Georgia.<fnref n="4" /> The National Archive also keeps the rescued collections of the state architecture and planning bureaus from the Soviet period. The holdings contain official documents and architectural drawings. Even though the archival materials can be used by researchers, legislation and practice of accessing them are restrictive.<fnref n="5" /> Besides, an unknown number of documents have not yet been catalogued and remain inaccessible. As a counterpart to the invisibility, or even destruction of archival files in public Georgian institutions, some important archival documentation can be found in the family archives of the architects and engineers. This rare material contains singular concepts, visualised ideas, original drawings, sketches, handwritten notes and construction documentation regarding outstanding examples of the local architectural heritage from the 20th century. However, these materials are not publicly accessible and there is no specialised institution in the country that could evaluate and preserve them. Documents like these represent the main source of information about unique ideas of architecture of the past century. The non-existence of architectural institutions has played a crucial role in the discontinuity in local architectural historiography and the comprehensive loss of such holdings within the discipline. In many cases, the researchers, planners and other interested individuals are challenged with a gap in history.

TBILISI ARCHITECTURE ARCHIVE

In 2020, a group of three researchers and architects from Georgia – Nino Tchatchkhiani, Natia Abasashvili and myself – started a conversation around

alternative scenarios for sharing information and documents to develop new perspectives on the architectural legacy. Through this process we wanted to explore, whether it is possible to find methods for increasing visibility and encouraging public debate on the past architecture era without neither long-term funding nor institutional status. What are our possibilities to reconstruct and communicate architecture stories without an institutional background? How could we become more than a source and play an active role in memory making?

In this context, our group started to investigate ways to make the hidden architecture collections visible. As a response, we set out to organise a self-managed and non-institutional organisation and subsequently launched a website named Tbilisi Architecture Archive (TAA), which combines a purely digital archive with an informative platform.<fnref n="6" /> Despite not possessing any of the archival items listed, this website provides archival material from different sources and basic information about particular projects. Besides the database, TAA works as an informative platform through re-reading and describing selected materials. It operates beyond the established institutions and brings together records from official and private archives, some of which are very difficult to access. TAA gathers documents previously scattered in multiple collections and publishes them open access. In this way connections arise between various collections that would otherwise not be possible. Through encountering, describing and connecting different documents to each other, they become evidence of their epoch. As a matter of fact, every interested architect, engineer, individual, volunteer, researcher or research organisation can use this space for sharing their collections or documents and become a co-organiser of the archive, enabling the online database a continuous growth. In this way, it allows the narrative to take different routes and open new perspectives to promote debates about the architecture heritage in Georgia.

Our project is currently focused on the largely overlooked Georgian Soviet Modernism, which marked the beginning of the last phase of Soviet architecture after Stalin's death, lasting for thirty years until the end of the Soviet Union. Most of the unexplored private collections that can be found date back to this period. From the beginning of the 1960s the republics of the Soviet Union were able to strengthen their political and economic power and build their own public representational buildings and monuments, stylistically less censored by the centralised planning requirements from Moscow,<fnref n="7" /> which caused Soviet Modernism to create a distinct 'differentiated architecture' in every region. According to the architecture critic and publicist Wolfgang Kil, this period was characterised within architecture by the fact that the national self-will of the peripheral territories was able to awake.<fnref n="8" /> In the southern 'peripheral republics' of the Caucasus, local

<footnote n="2">2 Megi Kartsivadze, "State Memory Politics in Georgia after 1991 and Similarities with the Other Post-Soviet Countries," in 2nd *International Conference–Openness of State Archives and Memory Studies*, ed. Thomas Welsford (Tbilisi: Institute for Development of Freedom of Information, 2019), 54–57.</footnote>

<footnote n="3">3 Irakli Khvadagiani, "Owning the Past – to Control the Present," in *Censored? Conflicted Concepts of Cultural Heritage*, ed. Ayşegül Dinççağ Kahveci et al (Weimar: Bauhaus-Universitätsverlag, 2022), 160–164.</footnote>

<footnote n="4">4 Nino Merebashvili-Fisher, "Access to Archival Documents in Georgia," in 2nd *International Conference–Openness of State Archives and Memory Studies*, ed. Thomas Welsford (Tbilisi: Institute for Development of Freedom of Information, 2019), 27–30.</footnote>

<footnote n="5">5 Merebashvili-Fisher, *Access to Archival Documents in Georgia*, 27.</footnote>

<footnote n="6">6 https://taa.net.ge/en/. Visited: 02–10–2023.</footnote>

<footnote n="7">7 Dietmar Steiner, "Sowjetmoderne anerkennen" *Bauwelt* 19.2011, https://www.bauwelt.de/themen/betrifft/Sowjetmoderne-anerkennen-AzW-Wien-Debatte-Polemik-Dietmar-Steiner-2089212.html.</footnote>

<footnote n="8">8 Interview mit Wolfgang Kil, "Russland, Zentralasien und Kaukasus" in *SOS Brutalismus. Eine internationale Bestandsaufnahme*, ed. Oliver Elser et al (Zürich: Park Books, 2012), 227–231.</footnote>
architectural heritage was drawn upon, so that 'strong regional identities based on a rich tradition' could emerge there.<fnref n="9" /> During this period in the Georgian SSR several public buildings were built using a specific local architectural style.

Today, Soviet Modernism experiences a very bad reputation in Georgia and is ignored in Soviet architectural historiography as well as in the narration of local traditional history beyond professional circles. In this context, the TAA aims to share unknown stories about mostly well-known concepts and buildings with problematic reputation, exploring alternatives to change the situation that has brought such buildings into oblivion, negligent preservation and even demolition.

## HOW TO COMMUNICATE ARCHITECTURE OF BAD REPUTATION?

The material of more than 25 architectural projects with descriptions in Georgian and English are already published on the TAA website. Some of which have not been realised, some have already been demolished, some are widely known, while others have never received the attention they deserve. Most of them are located in Tbilisi, some are outside of Georgia or in the Russian-occupied territories. The descriptions contest urban myths and are based on facts. Since the beginning, our team decided to focus on the original stories backed by evidence in the shape of archival documents and other sources. Descriptions are therefore brief and lexical, gathering the information from sources of various type and material from different collections whenever it's possible. Alongside a list of projects, the website provides an index of factual biographical information about architects, researchers and engineers, as well as their private photographs from family and state archives. The website also includes a collection of artistic works and a glossary in which all formal terms, mostly from Soviet times, are explained. Parallel to updates of the website, we send out a newsletter four times a year. The website usually has about 20-30 visitors per day. For the three of us working part-time without any long-term funding, that is a big number. Nevertheless, we have discussed a lot about how to break this circle and make our voice heard outside the discipline.

In 2022 we participated in a group exhibition and published our first printed edition, both entirely dedicated to one specific building– an example of local Modernism, the aquatic sports complex known as 'Laguna Vere'. We have chosen this particular building because of its architectural and social value, as well as its current condition. 'Laguna Vere' was open all year round for 30 years and played a significant role in the lives of many citizens. Sadly, it has now been closed for almost ten years and thus Tbilisi has lost one of its most beloved public destinations. Generations of local residents share a strong emotional attachment along with memories connected to this outstanding

example of Georgian Modernism, which today is abandoned and on the verge of complete demolition. During the process we asked for photos and materials related to the 'Laguna Vere' on social media, and received hundreds of them, including private amateur pictures, entrance tickets, notes from diaries, posters from competitions etc. By collecting and presenting different documents from such diverse sources, the multi-layered value of 'Laguna Vere' was revealed. Our exhibition was well attended, nevertheless, again, most of the visitors belonged to the discipline.

## WHAT'S NEXT?

With the archival activism we aim to achieve more visibility for architecture in general and for the Soviet architecture period in particular. However, so far, we have not been able to find the appropriate way to communicate our collections to a wider audience. Through a social media campaign, we aimed to recirculate positive memories about the building and its formal use and raise awareness of its current bad condition as well as displaying the importance of such public urban landscapes in the central areas of Tbilisi. The sharing of the user's perspective was significant to initiate debates about positive aspects of Social Modernism architecture. As a result of the exhibition a brochure dedicated to the 'Laguna Vere' was published, combining the material we received with archival and architecture documents.

Through this combination of classical archival and alternative, nonprofessional documents, that were not meant to be collected or exhibited, we could almost present the whole picture of this particular building. In this way it was possible to demonstrate not only its architectural quality but also its social values, relevance and usability. Since then, we have been thinking more about including this kind of non-archival materials directly into our research and showing it to our audience. We believe this could also be the way to activate debates regarding Social Modernism and its qualities. In general, the documents valuable to architecture are more diverse than the ones stored in traditional archival collections. The future of institutions and organisations that collect, present and communicate architecture, are based on a rethinking of the material they hold. The equalisation of alternative, and thus non-archival documents and records, could help make architecture accessible to a wider audience.

<footnote n="9">9 Dietmar Steiner, "Sowjetmoderne 1955–1991", in *Sowjetmoderne 1955–1991. Unbekannte Geschichten*, ed. Katharina Ritter et al. (Zürich: Park Nooks, 2012) 6–8.</footnote>
Old Media
<figure><img src="image_57.png" /><figcaption>Top Left: Slide Row Archive, Drawer 1 (Detail), Bottom Right: White Archive, Slide Sheet 3: Ruth Durack, Top Right: Hugo-Brunt Archive, File N:New York New Jersey (File Index Detail).</figcaption></figure>

# Click, Whirr, Jam:
Architecture in and through
the Photographic Slide-Lecture

## INTRODUCTION

Before PowerPoint, before Keynote, the 35mm photographic slide was the technology de rigueur for the didactic transmission and reception of architecture. As teaching institutions decommission their analogue slide collections, we face an interregnum in which slides are not quite junk but still not quite precious. This is a critical moment to explore the distinctive qualities of the medium and the social practices it has been a part of. In this essay we loosely apply the notion of ‘affordances’ as described by sociologist Jenny L. Davis, to consider how analogue and digital slide-lectures differently ‘request, demand, encourage, discourage, refuse and allow particular lines of action and social dynamics’.<fnref n="1" /> In doing so we speculate on what has been lost and what gained in the socio-technical shift from analogue to digital slide-lectures in architecture.

Slide-lectures are a ‘performative triangular consisting of speaker, audience and image’, all sharing a single dialogic space.<fnref n="2" /> Although scholars working in art history and archival studies have systematically started to critically examine slides and lectures, their role in architecture is only now being examined.<fnref n="3" /> The acknowledged progenitor of the genre is Swiss art historian Heinrich Wölflinn, for whom double-slide lectures were both ‘laboratory stage’ and ‘experimental theatre.’<fnref n="4" /> The sequenced projection of photographic slides in the darkened room popularised by Wölflinn, quickly spread to other visual disciplines, including architecture, becoming a mainstay of their discursive construction. For architecture, the attraction is obvious: buildings are costly, large, and immobile; slides on the other hand are relatively inexpensive and easy to transport. The slide-lecture, therefore became an invaluable way of mediating architecture for geographically distant audiences—something that was particularly valuable for those working a long way from cultural centres of Europe and North America, where first-hand encounters of canonical buildings were less likely.

<footnote n="1">1. Jenny L. Davis, *How Artifacts Afford: The Power and Politics of Everyday Things* (Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press Academic, 2020), 11. *Massachusetts: MIT Press Academic, 2020*</footnote>

<footnote n="2">2. Robert S Nelson, "The Slide Lecture, or the Work of Art" History in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, *Critical Inquiry* 26, No. 3 (2000): 415.</footnote>

<footnote n="3">3. Catherine Mejía Morena, 'The "Corporeality" of the Image in Walter Gropius' Monumentale Kunst Und Industriebau Lecture', *Intermédialités*, 24/25, (2014), https://doi.org/10.7202/1034165ar [accessed 20 July 2023]; 'Photographs of Silos: On the Contingency of a Modern Photographic Canon', *Architectural Histories*, 10.1 (2022), 1–30.</footnote>

<footnote n="4">4. Dan Karlholm, "Developing the Picture: Wölfflin's Performance Art," *Photography and Culture* 3, No. 2 (2010): 208.</footnote>