PICTURE ARCHIVE

Photography in its broadest sense is the most important recording medium used by an art museum. The Pori Art Museum monitors trends and developments in the visual arts, conducting basic research and documentation. The museum produces the majority of the visual material it needs itself. The picture archive contained about 78 133 photos in 2007. The museum also maintains a database for its photo archive. The database contains information on more than 54 297 photos, entered since 1992.

Photographic records in the Pori Art Museum are made on large-format transparencies. The sizes in use are 6 x 7 cm, 9 x 12 cm, 6 x 17 cm, 4" x 5" and 18 x 24 cm. Some material is also photographed on 6 x 7 cm black-and-white stock. The picture archive contains only a small number of colour negatives and paper prints. In 1997, the Pori Art Museum acquired a digital video camera. Apart from actual documentation, the museum also produces material on 35 mm film for lecture and teaching use. This format is also used to document events, for example, as well as for teaching materials in art history.

The museum has 110 series of slides that can be borrowed. The utilisation rate of permanent series is not particularly high. Instead of entire series, borrowers make use of the archive of 35 mm photos (primarily reproductions and duplicates). The museum collects and lends about 500 batches of material for teaching and lecture use every year.