Activating the Digital Archive: A New Platform for the ICAA Documents of Latin American and Latino Art

The International Center for the Arts of the Americas (ICAA)’s Documents of Latin American and Latino Art is a digital archive and publications project that provides access to primary source materials and critical documents related to Latin American and Latinx art. Launched in 2012, the Documents Project website was one of the earliest digital humanities initiatives of its kind in a rapidly evolving field. This monumental editorial and digitization effort, begun in 2005, was devoted to document recovery and has entailed an ambitious collaboration among translators, editors, image and copyright specialists, and ten research teams based in Latin America and the U.S., thus ensuring that the physical archives would continue to reside in their home institutions and communities. Now, the Documents Project is poised to embark on a second phase that seeks to not only address gaps in the existing collection by forging new institutional partnerships, but also to activate the material through a renovated digital platform with increased spaces for discourse and interactive content. Potential features range from artist-curated projects that engage the collection, a capsule focused on digitized and annotated rare journals, zines, and ephemera, and recurring blog posts. A recently launched partnership with the University of Houston will also formally expand the pedagogical scope of the initiative through student-curated content and in-house research. The expansion of this project has prompted critical reflection on the possibilities and limitations of institutionally-curated digital archives, particularly in a field that has experienced immense growth and transformation since the initiative’s inception.