Open to the public: strategies for a museum archive

How could a contemporary archive in an art institution be organized, what can or should its parameters be? In recent years archiving has become an important subject for museums and galleries as they consider and organize the documentation and accessibility of their past activities and exhibitions. The article deals with the Fundació Antoní Tàpies in Barcelona and its special programmes to engage visitors in working with archive material in the museum space. The institutional framework developed at the Fundació includes the activation of different visitor groups, the establishing of online tools and the creation of new exhibitions based on archive material. These aspects aim at an open access to the archive for the public