News from the Archive - Towards the Alinari Museum. Conversations

In view of the future Alinari Museum, which is set to open in the monumental complex of Santa Maria Novella, the Fondazione Alinari has chosen to devote the 2026 edition of "News from the Archive" to the way in which a major photographic archive can be transformed into a place of knowledge, research and participation.

The series of meetings that the Foundation organizes every year thus becomes Verso il Museo Alinari – Conversazioni (Towards the Alinari Museum – Conversations): five events open to the public at Villa Fabbricotti in Florence, where visitors can meet directors and curators of major museums and cultural institutions, researchers, photographers and architects, and hear their ideas and experiences on the subjects of photographic archives, museums and the promotion of photography.

A dialogue between Italian and international experiences, aimed at bringing out ideas, perspectives and new directions and helping to chart the path of the future Alinari Museum in Florence: a place capable of preserving and enhancing a unique photographic heritage, interpreting it in light of the transformations of contemporary society, and making it alive and accessible to diverse audiences and new generations.

To support the development of the museological project, the Foundation has decided to establish an international-level Advisory Board to assist it. Some of its members will be the very protagonists of the five conversations, invited to Florence to share their experiences and ideas with the public.

PROGRAMME

Thursday, 8 October
On Photographic Archives: Materiality, Memory, Relations
with
Costanza Caraffa, Director of the Photo Library of the Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz – Max Planck Institute
Elizabeth Edwards, Professor Emerita of History of Photography at De Montfort University, Leicester, and internationally renowned scholar of historical photography and photographic archives
Nicola Lo Calzo, photographer and researcher (CY Cergy Paris Université), lecturer at Sciences Po


Wednesday, 28 October
Rethinking Museums: Spaces, Technologies, Experiences
with
Sarah Kenderdine, Professor at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) and expert in digital museums and cultural heritage
Roberto Ferrari, Executive Director of the Museo Galileo – Institute and Museum of the History of Science, Florence;
Lorenzo Greppi, architect and set designer


Thursday, 19 November
Exhibiting Photography in Museums
with
Martin Barnes, Senior Curator Photography, Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Marie Robert, Head of the Photography and Film Collections at the Musée d'Orsay, Paris
Nicoletta Leonardi, Chair of the Scientific Committee of the Fondazione Alinari per la Fotografia


Thursday, 3 December
Santa Maria Novella: A Shared Space for Museums
with
Giuseppe Antonelli, Full Professor of History of the Italian Language at the University of Pavia and Scientific Director of the Museum of the Italian Language (MUNDI);
Giorgio Caselli, Architect, Head of the Fine Arts Department and the Palazzo Vecchio Factory Office at the Municipality of Florence
Giorgio van Straten, President of the Fondazione Alinari per la Fotografia


Monday, 14 December
Musei e Comunità
with
Christian Greco, Director of the Museo Egizio, Turin
Kathrin Schönegg, Head of the Photography Department, Münchner Stadtmuseum
Claudia Baroncini, Director of the Fondazione Alinari per la Fotografia

The events will take place at 5:30 pm at Villa Fabbricotti, Via Vittorio Emanuele II, 64, Florence.
Admission is free and open to all. No reservation is required. Seating is limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis.

The program is made possible by the support of Fondazione CR Firenze, as part of the activities dedicated to the future Alinari Museum.

INFORMATION
faf.toscana@alinari.it | tel. +39 055 4628069.


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