How to begin: collecting, archiving, and access – Sezin Romi

On March 9th, 2022, Sezin Romi, the Senior Librarian and Archivist at SALT (Istanbul and Ankara, Turkey) will give an online talk in the context of Lumbardhi’s Public Archive project which aims to build an archive collection focusing on Prizren’s modern history. In her presentation, Romi will focus on the required infrastructure for the constitution of archives in the institutional contexts. Discussing the notion of the archive, she will explain the reasons behind archiving and its public use. She will elaborate on processes such as collecting, classification and description, digitization and access policies at SALT Research. Through SALT’s selected research projects, she will examin various methods and the critical importance of archives in the interpretation of art history.

The realization of the talk was made possible with the support of the Goethe-Institut and other partners.

In addition to managing the library Sezin Romi carries out the necessary processes for the research and access of art archives at SALT Research. She was also involved in the research and visualization of SALT’s projects It was a time of conversation (2012-2013), From England with Love, İsmail Saray(2014-2015), Idealist School, Productive Studio (2018), and History of the Painting and Sculpture Museums Association (2022). Having collaborated in the research processes of SALT’s various e-publications, Romi is the co-editor of İsmail Saray (2018) publication.


About SALT and SALT Research

SALT is a not-for-profit cultural institution in public service, engaging in research, exhibitions, publications, web projects, conferences, and other public programs in Turkey. SALT’s programs are distributed at SALT Galata and SALT Beyoğlu buildings in Istanbul. The institution works in the intersections of different disciplines such as visual practices, the built environment, social life, and economic history.SALT Research comprises a specialized library and an archive of physical and digital sources and documents on visual practices, the built environment, social life and economic history. As part of a long-term commitment to digitizing resources at SALT Research, the institution makes documents and sources universally available via saltresearch.org together with the catalog of local access publications.