The Journal of the Archives and Records Association invites submissions for its special issue

VISUAL ARTS ARCHIVES

Recent years have seen a rise in the profile of the visual arts archive. From a specialist sector, the field has become a site of rich convergence for many current issues affecting archives, such as interdisciplinary encounters with notions of the archive, and the archive as a site of creative practice. Contributions are invited to a special issue of Archives and Records (formerly the Journal of the Society of Archivists) on the theme of the visual arts archive. Articles might consider aspects of this field of archival practice, or engage with discussions about visual arts archives that have taken place outside the archival profession. The issue particularly seeks to foster interdisciplinary debate, so contributions are encouraged from within and outside the archival profession, especially where they engage with aspects of archival practice.
Over the past decade, many academic journals have produced special issues on the Archive. This special issue seeks to reach in the opposite direction, outwards from the archive to the field of visual culture. The visual arts sector has seen particularly rich interdisciplinary exchanges and discourses about archives. Increasingly, archivists have entered these critical and philosophical debates and enriched the dialogue using archivaltheory and practice, which has often been under-represented. Meanwhile, the role of the archivist, like that of the curator, has experienced a dissolving of its boundaries, its field of practice explored by those from a range of perspectives interested in the stewardship of visual arts archives, in both digital and analogue forms.
In particular, 2013 has seen a number of events that indicate the pertinence of this field of enquiry for a special issue of Archives and Records, with several conferences and symposia organized both within and outside the archival profession. A book, All that Stuff: Archiving the Artist, has been published by the ARLIS Committee for Art + Design Archives, the culmination of a strand of innovative interdisciplinary work which started with events at Tate Britain in 2007 and 2009. Meanwhile, The National Archives’ strategic initiative ‘Archiving the Arts’ has launched, aiming “to ensure that the records of art in the UK are well cared for and accessible, and that their value is recognized”.
We invite papers reflecting on any aspect of archival practice in visual arts archives. Contributions might consider, but are not confined to, the following themes:
• Interdisciplinary perspectives on visual arts archives
• Building relationships with art and design practitioners and organisations
• Alternative archival practices of visual arts archives
• Defining the archival object in the visual arts environment: non-traditional archival forms
• New technologies in visual arts records, their collection, management and preservation
• Copyright and intellectual property rights in art and design environments
• Value in visual arts archives, which might include monetary and reputational values
• Hidden or under-researched visual arts materials

Prospective authors are invited to contact the Editor of this special issue, Sue Breakell (s.m.breakellbrighton.ac.uk) to discuss potential articles. The deadline for submissions is 31st July 2014. All submissions will be double blind peer-reviewed and should be presented in line with Archives and Records style guidelines, available at:
http://www.tandfonline.com/action/authorSubmission?journalCode=cjsa20&page=instructions#.Un9ccCefauI