MCN2015

Initiated in 1970, Carnegie Museum of Art's Film Section was among the first programs to focus on the moving image as a medium for art within a museum and it played an essential role in the promotion of experimental film until the department's dissolution in 2003. As part of Phase II of the Time-Based Media Project, CMOA has begun a multi-year project to preserve and digitize the photos, letters, audio & video recordings, posters, and other documents created by the department. These archival materials have deep links both to accessioned works in CMOA's collection and with historical events that took place at the museum and partnering organizations throughout the city of Pittsburgh.

As part of CMOA's focus on event-based digital storytelling, we are integrating these historical elements directly into a new collections website. Traditionally, digitized archival materials are not integrated with artworks on museum collections websites. The digital component of the CMOA Department of Film and Video archive will be a working prototype of a new type of collection website, one that treats events, objects, and people as first class digital citizens, regardless of whether they related to accessioned works or archival materials. The site will use Linked Open Data to highlight the connections between the events, people, and the objects that make up the story of the department, both within our institution and across the digital world.

What does it mean for the institution to treat our archival materials as first-class citizens within a museum's collection website? How can we use those archival materials to enhance the public's understanding of the works in our collection, the history of the institution, and the artists, staff, and other people involved throughout the department's history? What insights can we gain ourselves?