Institutional purposes

Organizers accept responsibilities in several areas. Through custody, they care for particular material possessions and arrange their return. Through portraiture and authored occasions, they pursue artistic work. Through interviews and observation, they investigate practices and relationships. Through correspondence, they offer possible cooperation. Through software development, they examine methods for recording and interpreting a changing collection.

A custodian may value care even after declining an introduction. A visitor may value a discussion ending in disagreement. An author may make a photograph with independent value as a print. Researchers therefore record the purpose of a particular activity before assessing its result. They can compare participant judgments, material changes, research findings, practical costs without combining them into a compulsory overall score.

Tensions become concrete during decisions. A dramatic reveal may conflict with a participant's publication preference. Frequent handling may add history while increasing wear. A sponsor may favor a visible occasion while staff need money for storage. The institutional constitution provides a procedure for deciding responsibility, recording reasons, revisiting a decision.