Archive Care Autumn School
22–28 October 2026, Bologna
Now in its fifth edition, the Archive Care training programme is evolving into a new format: the Archive Care Autumn School.
Archivio Aperto Festival launches the Archive Care Autumn School, an intensive programme dedicated to training, exchange and discussion around the curation, reuse and enhancement of small-gauge film archives, taking place in Bologna from 22 to 28 October 2026.
The School is aimed at early-career scholars, researchers, curators, and professionals – including those transitioning into a new career – who are interested in exploring practices of reinterpretation and reactivation of private, amateur, experimental, and artists’ audiovisual heritage.
The week-long intensive programme combines the Archivio Aperto Festival programme with lectures, masterclasses and opportunities for exchange led by professionals and international guests.
The Autumn School places particular emphasis on private, amateur, experimental and artists’ moving-image heritage, exploring the possibilities for its reinterpretation and reactivation within contemporary practices and spaces. Archival images are approached not simply as materials to be preserved, but as sources capable of generating new narratives, artistic practices, exhibition projects and opportunities to engage with history and collective memory.
Inside the Archive Care Autumn School
The Archive Care Autumn School takes place in Bologna from 22 to 28 October 2026 and includes +20 hours of sessions, masterclasses, lectures, case study presentations and discussions with curators, researchers, artists and professionals.
In addition to these hours, participants will have the opportunity to attend all events and screenings of the Archivio Aperto Festival.
Learning and Networking
The Archive Care Autumn School is also conceived as a space for exchange and connection among people from different disciplinary and professional backgrounds. One of its main goals is to foster the development of a professional network among participants, lecturers and guests, through the sharing of experiences, methodologies and perspectives on curatorial practices and the interpretation and activation of audiovisual heritage.
Skills related to archives, memory and their public presentation are increasingly relevant across a wide range of contexts, including museums, film archives, archives, festivals, public and private cultural institutions, foundations, companies and corporate archives. The Autumn School aims to provide critical and methodological tools for navigating this expanding field, while encouraging interdisciplinary approaches and new opportunities for professional collaboration.
The full programme, lecturers and guests, together with information on how to apply, will be announced on 20 August on the Archivio Aperto website.