Un centro in movimento

Museums find themselves in tension. In order to collect and conserve artefacts representative of their subject, they have needed to be physically stable places. But to remain useful organs of the present, they cannot extract in the manner that was common to many of them, with varying degrees of invasion and imposition, for so long. The question: how can a museum fulfill its mnemonic, protective, and presentational roles in a world in which it is interested, but in a way that steps more lightly in that world? The Canadian Centre for Architecture is under this kind of tension, and deriving energy from it. Our collection, which has grown by dialogue and donation, and which is conserved, exhibited, and accessible for research in a building in Montreal, is an essential aspect of our existence; and yet we are evolving into a more mobile and observational entity. We have been experimenting with models of research, conservation, and curation that, for their emphasis on non-invasively processing phenomena in their existing context, are called “post-custodial”. These interrelated models, including an archival process focussed on threatened archives called Find and Tell Elsewhere and a medium-term curatorial process focussed on different cities around the world called CCA c/o, provide in-situ support to endemic architectural voices and discourses. Collaborations in regions in Africa, including Senegal, Sudan, and Nigeria, have been formative in shaping these models.