Z33: a practical example of strategic digital transformation in the arts sector
Z33 is a centre for contemporary art, design and architecture, where the temporary and experimental take
centre stage. In this context, archiving can easily seem like a sideshow. Something for later. Something to do when there’s time. Yet it’s precisely the fleeting nature of the work that makes archiving so important. When you work with temporary exhibitions, changing collaborations and project-based production, you’re constantly creating something new, without always having time to document what came before. And that can be risky. In recent years, Z33 has come to realise that caring for its archive is essential. Not to preserve the past as a monument, but to understand the present and provide lasting support for the future. The shift began with an analysis of how the organisation worked. What was stored where? Who decided on folder structures? What happened when someone left? And how could valuable information be kept from getting lost among desktops, drives and shared folders?
The conclusion was clear: the existing digital archive was fragmented, partly invisible and poorly suited to the realities of the organisation’s work. More importantly, Z33 realised that archiving is about more than structure and technology: it’s also about culture and behaviour.
Z33 decided to address archival management as more than a technical issue, embedding it in a broader digital transformation programme. Working with a temporary digital archiving project officer, the organisation launched an intensive programme based on a shared vision. Archiving was defined as an active working tool that supports Z33’s artistic, operational and educational work, helps teams connect and even contributes to the organisation’s professional image. This vision was built around three strategic pillars: clarity, accessibility and sustainability.
Clarity meant developing a central folder structure that would be intuitive for all staff. Rather than imposing a system from the top down, Z33 created a shared framework based on the organisation’s actual workflows. Accessibility took shape through agreements on access management, responsibilities and roles, with particular attention to temporary staff and external partners. Sustainability was approached as a combination of technical security, such as moving to a cloud environment through SharePoint, and embedding the changes in the organisation through training, awareness-raising and Trash Days.
A crucial part of the process was aligning the work with TRACKS’ basic management guidelines. These not only helped guide decisions, but also provided a shared language for embedding the importance of archival management within the organisation and communicating it externally. TRACKS served as both a benchmark and a source of legitimacy.
The new archive policy was implemented in stages. First, the central server was restructured. Next, a protocol for naming and documenting files was developed and tested on recent working years. This was followed by training and internal coaching, with particular attention to the needs of individual staff members and teams. The move to SharePoint was prepared as a next step: the archive would not simply be moved, but fundamentally rethought.
During its digital transformation programme, Z33 soon realised that the traditional distinction between ‘working documents’ and ‘the archive’ was no longer enough. In an organisation where collaboration is dynamic, projects often evolve through iteration and digital files are constantly changing, there is rarely a clear point at which a document is ready to be moved into the archive. This reality called for a fresh understanding of what archiving means to us.
Z33 has deliberately moved away from using ‘archiving’ in its narrow sense and now talks about documenting work processes. The focus shifts from ‘preserving what’s finished’ to ‘making visible how we work’. This approach recognises that many documents in the cultural sector aren’t intended as finished products. Instead, they carry knowledge, discussion, reflection or production along the way. Documentation is therefore not an end point, but an ongoing practice that evolves with the work itself. Documenting the work process also brings two benefits. First, it creates greater transparency: team members, temporary colleagues and successors can easily find out how decisions were made, what has already been done and what steps are still to come. Second, it strengthens institutional memory, ensuring that knowledge isn’t lost when projects end, even if that knowledge is informal or implicit.
The distinction between active working documents and the archive still exists, but it is less clear-cut. The digital archive is seen more as a living memory, where documents can exist at different stages. Some documents are archived because they’re important for policy or legal reasons; others remain ‘active’ because they’re regularly consulted or updated. Z33’s folder structure and protocol explicitly take this tension into account. This approach also calls for new ways of working with files. They aren’t archived simply because they’re ‘finished’, but because they’re meaningful within a work process. That also means learning to explain what we keep and why, and making that reasoning part of the work itself. Staff are encouraged to think carefully about their digital traces: what might be valuable to a colleague, to the organisation or for future reuse? What contributes to our shared memory?
In this way, Z33 is gradually moving from an archive as static storage to a dynamic tool for working and learning. In this approach, archiving no longer happens only after the work is done; it becomes part of the work itself. Replacing ‘archiving’ with ‘documenting work processes’ is therefore more than a change in terminology. It’s a strategic choice that reflects the realities of artistic, educational and organisational practice.
What makes this programme special is the way archival management was approached as a shared learning process. The aim wasn’t perfection, but shared ownership. Digital archiving wasn’t seen as an extra task for one person, but as a shared responsibility that could only succeed with the support of the whole team. This approach made it possible to acknowledge resistance, make time for dialogue and find solutions that were both technically robust and practical for people.
Digitale archiefzorg is niet enkel een administratieve verplichting, maar ook een kans om als organisatie te groeien. Door te investeren in duidelijke structuren en gedragen protocollen, ontstaat ruimte om het artistieke werk te versterken, de interne samenwerking te verbeteren en de institutionele continuïteit te waarborgen. Het archief wordt zo geen eindpunt, maar een vertrekpunt. Geen opslagplaats, maar een dynamisch geheugen.
Auteur: Frederic Busscher (Z33)