Performing the Archive—The Future of Artistic Archives

As part of the Biennale Sessions program 2026, the Angewandte takes the contribution of this year's Austrian Pavilion by Florentina Holzinger as a starting point to explore broader transformations in how artistic and especially performance archives are conceived, activated, and made relevant for present and future generations. The panel brings together artists, curators, and scholars to examine what contemporary archives can and should do—with and beyond documentation. The focus is on how curatorial settings as well as performative and ephemeral artistic practices can challenge archival conventions, how the ephemeral can be archived, and what remains of a performance that was never meant to last.

Drawing on concrete experiences from exhibition-making, curatorial practice, and archival research, the panel addresses these questions with urgency: at a moment when the future of cultural memory is being actively negotiated across institutions and disciplines: Who decides what an archive remembers—and what it forgets? How can historical materials be used as ‘living resources’ instead of remaining static data? What must a diverse, artistically influenced archive do—and be—in order to remain relevant for present and future generations?

Welcome:
Ulrike Kuch, Rector, University of Applied Arts Vienna
Panel:
Nora-Swantje Almes, Curator, Austrian Pavilion 2026 Seaworld Venice and Curator Live Program at Gropius Bau, Berlin
Jakob Lena Knebl, Ashley Hans Scheirl, Artists, Austrian Pavilion 2022 Soft machine and Her Angry Body Parts
Martin Reinhart, Researcher, Art & Science, Art x Science School for Transformation, University of Applied Arts Vienna
Dagmar Schink, Managing Director, VALIE EXPORT Center Linz, University of Arts Linz

Moderation:
Beatrice Jaschke, Co-Director, /ecm study programme, Exhibition Theory & Practice, University of Applied Arts Vienna

In the presence of students of the University of Applied Arts Vienna

Biennale Sessions 2026