The Curating Degree Zero Archive (CDZA) documents the work of over 100 contemporary art curators who are known internationally for their critical and experimental positions. This collection of exhibition documentation, gifted to the archivists by the curators themselves, contains, among other materials, catalogues, DVDs, magazines and ephemera. In this way the archive presents a representative cross-section of the critical curatorial discourse at the beginning of the 21st century.
The project began with the three-day symposium “Curating Degree Zero”, organized in Bremen in 1998 by Dorothee Richter and Barnaby Drabble. Between 2003 and 2008 the two curators worked together again on the Archive, which grew in size as it travelled to 18 venues around the world as an exhibition and programme of live events and public discussions.
In 2011, the resulting collection was gifted to the Media and Information Centre (MIZ) at the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK). Since the opening of the University’s new premises in the Toni-Areal in 2014, the archive is accessible as a permanent reference collection in the lower floor of the MIZ.
The entire contents of the CDZA are listed on swisscovery, and material that, due to conservation issues, cannot be accessed directly in the reference section can be ordered for viewing via swisscovery. Several unedited video recordings are listed in the eMuseum and can also be requested for viewing in the MIZ archive.
Further information about the archive and the touring exhibition can be found on the former CDZA website which is documented in the Arts Media Archive (Medienarchiv der Künste).