Crises in collection institutions – learning from Latin America: challenges, strategies, and approaches to solutions

Cultural heritage is a central component of collective identity, historical self-assurance, and social resilience. Museums, archives, and libraries are places of preservation, knowledge, and communication. In times of multiple crises—such as global health disasters like the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, wars, political instability, but also financial scarcity and volatility, political polarization, restitution claims by indigenous and African American actors, and societal expectations for a changed approach to postcolonial or culturally sensitive materials—collection institutions face growing challenges. At the same time, crises often reveal the potential for new, transformative practices and the further development of institutional structures, for example through digital openness, participatory formats, and international cooperation. What has been lacking in research to date, however, is a comparative study of Latin American collection institutions with the aim of developing concrete recommendations for action for collection institutions in Germany based on exchanges with partners in Latin America and within the SPK network. Although Latin America has extensive experience of crises due to its history and general conditions, the approach taken to date has often been the reverse: a one-sided transfer from Germany/Europe to Latin America. This research project aims to close this gap.

The cooperative approach to social challenges in Europe and Latin America, together with partner institutions on both sides of the Atlantic, is an approach that the IAI has cultivated for many years and is reflected both in research projects with Latin American partner institutions and in the IAI's institutional publication program.
 

Specifically, the following objectives are being pursued:

1. Comparative analysis of the crisis experience of selected collection institutions in four Latin American countries: Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Peru.
2. Identification and documentation of practices, strategies, and innovative solutions.
3. Development of recommendations for action for collection institutions to strengthen their resilience.

The project contributes to the “SPK 2030” strategy in several ways: It aims to exchange and further develop strategies and innovative solutions for dealing with different types of crises together with partners within the SPK and with international cooperation partners in Latin America. Digital transformation also plays an important role in this context. The project strengthens cooperation networks within and outside the SPK and highlights the social role of collection institutions in dealing with crises in innovative ways.

In a first work package (WP 1), the framework conditions for collection institutions in Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, and Peru will be examined from a comparative perspective:

• What legal regulations exist for dealing with cultural heritage?
• What international agreements on cultural heritage have the countries signed?
• How are collection institutions financed?
• How do political upheavals affect funding programs and measures for the protection of cultural property?
• These questions will be addressed methodically through internet research, analysis of relevant legal texts, agreements, funding programs, and further literature.

The second work package (WP2) analyzes the crises that collection institutions in Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, and Peru have faced since 2010 and how they have dealt with the resulting challenges. The focus is on institutions with which the IAI has already collaborated in various ways in the past. These cooperation processes have created networks of trust that promise good access for the analysis. In addition to internet and literature research, detailed expert interviews with representatives of the respective institutions and other experts in the four countries are planned to analyze the crisis experiences. As a first step, an interview guide will be developed. A distinction is made between different types of challenges and crises that can manifest themselves on a material, organizational, social, and political level:

1. Institutional and financial bottlenecks: Many collection institutions suffer from structural underfunding and volatility, staff shortages, and a lack of infrastructural resources. This leads to problems with the preservation, restoration, digitization, and scientific cataloging of collections.
2. Natural and anthropogenic disasters: Museums, archives, and libraries are often at risk from fires, environmental disasters, moisture, pest infestation, and theft. A prominent example is the devastating fire at the Museu Nacional in Rio de Janeiro in 2018, which destroyed over 80% of the collection and highlighted the issues of disaster prevention and reconstruction.
3. Postcolonial debates and political challenges: Many collections originate from colonial contexts and are part of complex interrelationships between knowledge production, political power relations, and cultural appropriation. In Latin America, the decolonization of collections, the restitution or representation of indigenous and African American cultures, the recognition of plural forms of knowledge, knowledge practices, and ontologies, and the co-management of collections are key issues.
4. Digital infrastructure, visibility, and accessibility of collections: Digitization offers opportunities for better accessibility and networking, but also poses high technical and financial requirements. Many regions lack stable internet infrastructure, qualified personnel, and sustainable concepts for digital collections.
5. Social participation and cultural diversity: Institutions face the task of breaking down barriers to access, developing participatory mediation formats, and involving diverse user groups, especially indigenous communities, in the preservation and presentation of cultural heritage.
6. Global inequalities and equal cooperation: Collections in Latin America are often linked to international institutions, which brings opportunities for cooperation but also tensions with regard to ownership, representation, and epistemic justice. 

We assume that collection institutions in Latin America implement different crisis management strategies depending on the challenge and the social, political, and economic context:

• Institutional capacity building: strengthening infrastructure, training staff, developing emergency plans and disaster control measures.
• Digitization and technology, including AI: Digitizing collections, creating digital access, using digital platforms for research and the public.
• Decolonial and participatory approaches: Involving indigenous and local communities, repatriation policies, and recognition of diverse knowledge systems.
• Financial diversification: Utilizing international funding, establishing cooperation with foundations and private partners, sustainable financing models.
• Social networking: Cooperation with local communities, solidarity-based models of crisis management, promotion of social participation.
• The crisis management strategies are compared taking into account the respective national conditions. The aim is also to identify particularly successful strategies.

The third work package (WP3) involves planning, preparing, and conducting an international workshop to be held at the IAI in 2027, to which representatives from one collection institution from each of the Latin American countries studied will be invited, along with experts from German collection institutions. The aim is to present and discuss the results developed in WP2 and to enter into dialogue with representatives of collection institutions in Germany.

The fourth work package (WP4) serves to prepare the project results for the interested public:

• Development of an internet presentation with key project results and best practice examples.
• Writing a policy paper with the most important project results and recommendations for action for collection institutions.
• Publishing an anthology in English with the most important project results.
   

• Open access publication in English with contributions on crisis and resilience strategies of collection institutions in Latin America and results of the international workshop.
• Policy brief for cultural policy and international organizations.
• Open knowledge platform with case studies, best practices, and participatory approaches.
• Strengthening transregional partnerships between collection institutions in Germany and Latin America. Involvement of intermediary institutions such as the Goethe Institute.