Writings on depositories, private-public partnerships, digitisation, creating collections and purchasing policy, conservation and management.

Heritage is important for the arts. Artists and organizations document and archive their practice and production. This documentation can be used as a source for resourcing, research, and new work. Overall, more attention is given to history within the arts, as a result of which collections and archives gain in importance. These documents are of substantial cultural and economic value, both within the art market and in the creative industry.

Collections are instruments used to build up and articulate a collective memory, and they are always the product of choices made on the basis of a particular vision. This vision, however, constantly needs to be revised: artists work with the materials and media of their time, meaning that the conservation and management of art have become increasingly complex. More attention is given today to the connecting and enriching of collections, and to the means to open them up for creative re-use. A memory is always organic: it is unlocked with the possibilities and methods of its current period (analogue v. digital). 

In this respect, BAM organizes lectures on art collections to stimulate the debate on the acquisition of artworks by public institutions and government bodies. BAM also provides a practical guide to support artists in the archiving and digitizing of their own work.