Translated by ChatGPT

Background

The planning of this website began from attending the Art Archivist Training Program (September 12~October 25, 2025), organized by the Arts Council Korea and operated by B Foundation. Through this program, I was introduced to foundational concepts in archival studies, case studies of archival systems, methods for cataloging and classification using spreadsheets, and possible applications of digital archives. I also directly uploaded the works and records of fellow artists using the web-publishing software Omeka S. These experiences ultimately led to the operation of this site, with the aim of contributing to the activation of digital archives and archival systems that can be utilized on an individual level.

     The first project of EJ Archives, RHEEM Daul Digital Collection(2026), was developed with reference to the General International Standard Archival Description (ISAD(G)); the AA_M3 Classification and Description Manual and AA_R1 Registration Metadata Manual of the Art Archives, Seoul Museum of Art; and the Collection Records Classification, Arrangement, and Description Guidelines (Version 4.0) of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea. During the web-publishing process, publicly available manuals from ArchiveLab and discussions from the Omeka forum were also consulted. Such examples of knowledge sharing became the foundation upon which individual archival researchers could share records produced by artists. The operators of this archive propose this digital archive as a practical case of knowledge sharing and aim to gradually foster exchanges between the fields of art and archival studies. We express gratitude for the dedication of preceding researchers and institutions and hope that such practices and efforts will continue.

What Is a Record?

The archival theorist Theodore R. SCHELLENBERG (1903–1970), who laid the foundations of modern archival studies, proposed the concept of primary value—administrative, fiscal, and legal values acquired through the process of carrying out work—1)and secondary value, including evidential and informational values encompassing historical, cultural, and research significance acquired after records are produced2). According to his explanation, records connect the times of the past and the future through their various functions and are deeply related to our present lives. In particular, artistic records produced through broad artistic practices within society not only possess value as evidence and information regarding artistic actions, but also reveal the artist’s early activities, the processes of artwork production, and the presence of surrounding individuals who contributed to creative practices, thereby containing the aesthetic and research value of each activity. Such artistic records reach us beyond the boundaries of past time through the descriptive practices and research of archival scholars.

     Let us first examine a case in which records produced far removed from contemporary Korea, along with the research surrounding them, have reached us today. The art historian Aby Moritz WARBURG (1866–1929), beginning from his field research on Hopi dance rituals and the Schlangenritual (Snake Ritual), assembled and juxtaposed various images together with records he had collected: the serpent figure in Moki Snake Dance (1891)3), the serpent held by the Maenads4) in Dancing Maenads (1 B.C.), the serpents executing divine punishment in Laocoön (A.D. 27–68), the bronze serpent in Moses and the Brazen Serpent (1761), and photographs of Americans who had forgotten the fear of snakes and lightning (1896).5) Within his research, images from different historical periods were collected and arranged into a single iconographic series, proposing a world of serpent-images that transcended the gaps between magical and religious forms of worship and their differing properties. His work reaches our own time through exhibitions and publications such as Atlas: How to Carry the World on One’s Back? (2010), Image Anthropology, Mnemosyne Atlas (2020), and The Good Neighbour (2023), which referenced his book classification system.

     Next, let us examine a case of archival research that allows us to look into the history of this land. The archival research program After Archive: Lee Ku-yeol's Records (April 10–11, 2026), organized by the Leeum Museum of Art, explored the horizons of research embedded in records through the collection of LEE kuyeol, often referred to as Korea’s first art journalist. Researcher PARK Sohyun investigated the cultural and political activities of the period, as well as the Joseon Art Association founded by GO Huidong, based on LEE Kuyeol’s surviving records—including military painter corps insignia cards and pamphlets from The First Bukjinjeon Art Exhibition.6) KIM Haeri, through the template of Exhibition of Artists Who Went South, revealed the identity of the community of displaced artists formed within the Cold War cultural-political climate.7) Alongside these two researchers, scholars such as YOON Hyejun, KWON Haengga, KIM Gyewon, and HYUN Seewon illuminated the roots of our history and the landscapes of records generated there through LEE Kuyeol’s archives.

     Finally, let us consider records related to art spaces that have grown alongside artists in the contemporary art scene. These spaces reveal the foundations necessary for sustaining creative environments and the histories of their practices. Space imsi, which began in September 2016 as a temporary project in the Incheon Open Port area, operated not only exhibitions but also programs such as Incheon Municipal Museum of Art (2017), Local Curating Forum 2017, Digital Archiving Toolkit Workshop (2020), and the publication Incheon Art: Space of Space, sharing reflections on the environments and operational structures necessary for local artists to grow. Project Space Sarubia, established in 1999 as a nonprofit exhibition space, has continuously fostered conditions for artists to sustain creative practices through open-call systems and fundraising exhibitions. Founded in 2025, wearing-reading operates workshops on sustainable publishing and clothing while also managing residency programs for creators. The activities of such spaces are shared through digital archives presented on their respective websites.

Why a Digital Archives?

The archival scholar LEE Youngnam proposed the concept of the “Community Archpe,” envisioning it as a kind of “complex cultural space” or “community center”8) that cultivates the cultural soil of individuals and villages. This vision has increasingly materialized since the enactment of the Public Records Management Act in 1999, alongside the establishment of permanent archival institutions such as the Icheon Municipal Archives, Seoul Metropolitan Archives, and Jeungpyeong Archives, as well as the emergence of regional and community-based private archives such as the Seongmisan Maeul Archives, the Neutinamu Library9), the Dunchon Jugong Apartment Archive, and the Utoro Archive. Upon such archival foundations, we must now ask: what kinds of dreams shall we pursue, and what should we do to realize them?

     Among archives—defined as either non-current records possessing enduring value or institutions that manage such records—10) art archives, which refer to records generated during the production of artworks,11) have been established in more than twenty art institutions in Korea. However, examples of institutions that have constructed digital archives remain concentrated among several large-scale organizations, including the ARKO Art Archives, the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea, the Asia Culture Center, and the Nam June Paik Art Center. Even these institutions often provide little support beyond basic search tools for users wishing to actively utilize archival resources.12) Moreover, cases that introduce or support methods for individuals outside institutions to build and share their own archives remain rare. Under conditions of limited resources, how can the preservation and utilization of records be sustained?

     If we cannot preserve all of our records in their original form within the physical environment, let us instead share data about records within digital environments. By transferring folders stored in personal cloud systems onto websites, establishing classification systems, and organizing titles, production dates, descriptive hierarchies, and record types, records may become identifiable. Furthermore, by documenting producers and sources, we can contribute to tracing archival contexts, while detailed descriptions and organizational structures can provide richer contextual understanding of records. If elements such as creators, production dates, and related materials are connected through systems, then beyond the classification systems generated by archival researchers, it may become possible to observe diverse relational networks formed between records and their producers.13) Going further, through research guides and search systems, we may establish signposts through which unfamiliar visitors can explore the world of records.

     Within the records unfolded by archival researchers and producers, let us observe one another’s environments and colleagues while preparing the ground upon which outside visitors may be welcomed. Although we must recognize the limitation that not everything can be preserved, if we continue sharing our productions and methods of production within digital environments—and if exchanges among the communities formed through such sharing persist—these efforts may become nourishment sustaining future research.

     The digital archive shared through this site is not fixed as a completed outcome, but continually changes through direct exchange between the creator and their field of practice. It is also a digital strategy for effectively preserving not only administrative records produced in the course of work, but also artistic records created through the collaboration of numerous participants in artistic production. Through records that continue to evolve alongside the creator’s ongoing activities, we hope for a community in which each past and future circulates together.

     Through the ongoing process of selecting and classifying artistic records, we seek to reconnect worlds that have been separated from one another. Rather than envisioning a village in which everyone is subsumed into a single system, we imagine an environment where each person remains in their own place while forming relationships with neighbors, observing one another’s systems, and moving between them.14) We hope that the archive built through collaboration between the archival researcher and artistic producers may stand as an example of such archival practice.

-

Notes

1) Refer to the definition of the term “primary value” in the Archival Terminology Platform.

2) Refer to the definition of the term “secondary value” in the Archival Terminology Platform.

3) Aby Moritz WARBURG referred to the Hopi people using the former Spanish-derived designation “moqui.” See the footnote on page 25 of Snake Ritual: Images from the Region of the Pueblo Indians of North America (translated by Kim Namsi, 2018).

4) A term referring to the female followers of Dionysus.

5) See Aby Moritz WARBURG, Snake Ritual: Images from the Region of the Pueblo Indians of North America, translated by Kim Namsi, Idda, 2018, pp. 129–148.

6) Excerpted from PARK Sohyun (2026), “The “Other Side” of Art History and the Korean War: Lee Ku-yeol’s History of the Art World and the Question of Ko Hui-dong as Origin”

7) Excerpted from KIM Haeri (2026), “The Emergence of Displaced Artists: Exhibitions of Refugee Artists and Cultural Politics during the Cold War”

8) Refer to LEE Youngnam (2008), “Essay on the ‘Community Archpe’: A Proposal for a Village-Level ‘Community of Books, Records, History, Healing, and Entrepreneurship.’”

9) Neutinamu Library was established in 2000 and is currently located in Suji-gu, Yongin. As a privately operated public library, it classifies books according to socially discussed themes such as Sewol Ferry Disaster, Political Economy for a Better Life, The Birth of Citizens, and Homo Ludens. In 2012, the library also organized a lecture series titled “Village Archives Based in the Library” with Professor Lee Young-nam, and hosted the “Neutinamu Archiving Workshop,” which aimed to share foundational knowledge of records management, ranging from basic archival terminology to the description of file-level metadata. For further details, see Choi Jin-seon’s “The Construction and Management of Private Archives: The Case of Neutinamu Library” (2020).

10) Refer to the Society of American Archivists Dictionary of Archives Terminology.

11) LEE Hyerin (2024). “A Study on Classification & Description of Art Archives : Focused on “The Art Archives, Seoul Museum of Art”” Journal of Korean Society of Archives and Records Management, 24(1), 32.

12) KIM Jiah (2022). “Archival Discourse in Contemporary Art and the Rethinking of “Archival Art”” The Korean Journal of Archival Studies, 74, 82–83.

13) Refer to the descriptive areas and descriptive elements on page 5 of Archival Description Rules 2.0.

14) As a supplementary remark, the scene of beings raised in different environments observing and moving between one another has long been one of the author’s enduring aspirations, formed while wandering between museums and religious institutions. For a more detailed discussion, see sections (1)~(3) of From Atmosphere to Bumper! BUMP! and to Chestnut Tree–Goblin–Bonsai (2024).