User Manual

The digital archive of the DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program comprises selected historical documents from the program’s analogue archive holdings accumulated since the program’s inception through today. The archive is being cataloged and digitized in chronological stages; the first phase covers the period from 1963 to 1978, the year the daadgalerie opened. The material made publicly available here consists largely of correspondence, publications, printed matter, photographs, and image and sound recordings from the four fields—visual arts, literature, film, and music—and is divided into five sections: Fellow Files offer insights into the selection process and artistic careers of former fellows at the time of their stay in Berlin. The archive’s Publications section offers the possibility of viewing all publications released in conjunction with the artists’ program that are currently out of print. The Project Files provide information on the artistic projects developed in collaboration with the artists’ program and other partners. Key documents and records related to the founding and development of the artists’ program are compiled under Program History. And the Audiovisual Media section primarily includes digitized film works, documentation (image and sound), and audio recordings of performances, actions, concerts, readings, and artist talks, mainly from the 1970s to the late 1990s.

The digital archive holdings were selected according to their relevance and ability to illustrate artistic and historical developments. Furthermore, an important reason for publishing a large number of documents for the first time is to facilitate a view of the cultural and political history of the city and institution as well as the public perception of the Artists-in-Berlin Program since its founding by the Ford Foundation in West Berlin. The digital archive makes no claim to the completeness of existing analog data. Rather, it is intended to serve as an impetus for deeper engagement and provide new access and a greater volume of information on various contexts related to the program.

The cataloguing and digitization of holdings from the artists’ program archive was made possible by funding from the Senate Department for Culture for the digitization of objects of cultural heritage of the State of Berlin and the Research and Competence Center Digitization Berlin (digiS).

In collaboration with Nóra Lukács (indexing and digitisation of the holdings from 1963-78) and Iris Ströbel (text compilation and research).

How Can I Use the Digital Archive?

Instructions for working with the digitized materials and associated information are described below. These explanations outline which information is presented and the legal recommendations applicable to the use of archive material.

1. Digitized Material and Additional Information

In the digital archive you will find documents that have been digitized by scanning. A variety of metadata is available to provide additional information related to the respective digitized material. If important information for your research request is missing, please contact the artists’ program staff at bkp.berlin@daad.de. In such cases, please always provide as much information as possible (e.g. signature, title, fellows involved, type of document) so that we can provide you with the best possible support for your further search.

Copyrighted work may only be available for viewing with a title page or not at all. Information on rights holders can be found in the metadata displayed for the specific digitized material under “Rights notice.” If you require high-resolution digital files in tiff format, e.g. for larger reproductions, please submit a separate request. Send your request with the subject “Use of Images” to bkp.berlin@daad.de. In such cases, copyrights may need to be requested from the listed rights holders.

2. Search

Use the suggested filters in the digital archive’s four sections to search the artists’ program archives for specific information or material. In the future, the website will also feature a full-text search. The digital archive is expanding continuously—the first digitized material will be availabl in the Publications section. Fellow Files, Project Files, and Program History documents will gradually be made accessible in the near future. So it’s worth taking a look every now and again!

3. Rights Notice

The rights notice includes information on authors and/or other copyright holders in the form agreed with them. For further use, please always list all information in the way it is provided here.

4. Legal Basis for the Use of Digitized Material

The artists’ program has decided to publish online digitized materials from its archive under the Creative Commons license CC-BY-NC-ND 3.0, with a few exceptions. You can share, copy, distribute, and use the digitized materials for non-commercial purposes—under the following conditions: In all cases, you must cite the source and provide copyright and rights information (attribution), include a link to the license, and not modify the digitized material in any way. You may only distribute content under the same conditions. This means that you may only distribute material under the same license, without restricting it through clauses or technical procedures or allowing any other form of use.

In particular, works of contemporary art by living artists or those who died less than seventy years ago are not free of copyrights. These rights were researched and clarified by the artists’ program in order to be able to include them in the digital archive where required. In some cases, the authors have transferred the management of their rights to VG Bild-Kunst in Bonn or other collecting organizations, with whom the use is coordinated and which accordingly issue a fee-based license. Information on the rights holders is found under “Rights Notice.”

Please never remove the license markings from the digitized material or spread inaccurate information about their origin, artists, rights holders, or copyright status.

Should, despite our intensive research, any person entitled to rights have been overlooked, legitimate claims should be compensated within the usual provisions.

5. Indication of Source

When reusing digitized material, the correct object data and a reference to the material’s source must be indicated.

6. Share Knowledge

If you have further information on former artists’ program fellows, projects related to the program, or the history of our institution, do not hesitate to share your knowledge with the artists’ program team and other users. You can send your information to archiv.bkp@daad.de.