steirischer herbst Archive

steirischer herbst Archive, photo: Dietmar Reinbacher

Opening hours
Visit and research by appointment

Contact
Marlene Obermayer
obermayer [​at​] steirischerherbst.at
+43 664 2450063


The steirischer herbst Archive and Research Center serves to archive and document textual and visual sources related to modern and contemporary art and facilitates their scholarly treatment. The focus is on the history of steirischer herbst—an ongoing history with radical changes that is constantly reclassified and reinterpreted. Reflecting on one’s own activities is, not least, a productive and relevant feature of contemporary art production and institutions. steirischer herbst has been held annually without exception since 1967.

The archive material originating from the respective team and/or artistic direction of steirischer herbst forms the core of the Archive:

→  1967–1982 Founding Committee, Program Advisory Board, and Program Directorate
→  1983–1989 Peter Vujica
→  1990–1995 Horst Gerhard Haberl
→  1996–1999 Christine Frisinghelli
→  2000–2005 Peter Oswald
→  2006–2017 Veronika Kaup-Hasler
→  since 2018 Ekaterina Degot

In addition, steirischer herbst collects publications, print materials, and press releases, as well as image, video, and audio documents. The collection focuses on events and projects that took place in the course of the festival.

Every era brings its own understanding of what standards an archive should meet. Only recently have major festivals and contemporary art institutions begun to archive in accordance with scholarly standards.

Thus, since 2018, the executive team has begun to significantly professionalize the festival’s physical as well as digital archive. Thanks to a special grant from the State of Styria as well as exchanges with the Steiermärkische Landesbibliothek and the Universalmuseum Joanneum, valuable files could be cleaned, transferred, and reindexed. Hidden items were dug up, reassigned, and complemented, and additional rooms could be opened up.

Our users can examine the written records of past editions and continue their studies in the Research Center, where the Reference Library and Press Archive are also located. It is also possible to consult the holdings of the Media Archive.

steirischer herbst Archive, photo: Dietmar Reinbacher

Press Archive

The Press Archive contains coverage in the regional, national, and international press from 1967 onward.

File Archive

The File Archive contains written documents, concept papers, and miscellaneous printed matter. Posters and printed materials have been all scanned. In progress: documents until 1985 are completed. These archival records are stored in a growing number of boxes—currently 72.

Media Archive

The Media Archive consists of photographs, negatives, and color slides, as well as various sound, video, and film formats, with a focus on the documentation of steirischer herbst exhibitions and events.

The holdings comprise roughly 800 DVDs, 500 sound, video, and film recordings, and approximately 145 boxes of photos.

Reference Library

The academic Reference Library contains publications from 1960 onward as well as all publications on steirischer herbst and collaborations with institutions (Steirische Sommerakademie, Neue Galerie Graz, various galleries, …)

The current holdings amount to ca. 3,000 publications (brochures, catalogs, monographs).

steirischer herbst Archive, photo: Dietmar Reinbacher

Research on-site

A finding aid for the catalog helps to quickly search the current Archive holdings and provides an overview of the Reference Library holdings.

Searching for publications in the Reference Library is not yet possible.

steirischer herbst Archive, photo: Dietmar Reinbacher

Retrospective
Retrospective
Retrospective