Archiving the Infinite

L Fritz, no. 2, October 2014

"Although current photographic debates often center around the dichotomy between analogue and digital technology, looking to the future, the biggest change for the photographic archive will relate to its function rather than to its form. In the age of a trillion photographs, the question is not so much if we are going to be able to preserve all of these images, but how to decide which of them to keep and above all how to make them accessible. The central role of the photographic archive is shifting away from conservation to that of a filter that can organize and provide access to vast quantities of images. In the age of the ocean of images—fluid, constantly in motion and ever-growing—the archive needs to become the vessel which enables us to navigate these waters."