Documentation in Context: Historical Legacies and Future Directions
AfricaMuseum, Tervuren, Belgium | 16-20 November 2026
In November 2026, ICOM Documentation will gather in Belgium for its international conference at the AfricaMuseum in Tervuren, a museum whose history, collections, architecture and institutional transformation offer a powerful setting for reflection on the role of documentation in museums today.
Under the theme “Documentation in Context: Historical Legacies and Future Directions,” the conference invites museum professionals, researchers, collection managers, archivists, digital specialists, registrars, curators, conservators and community partners to examine how documentation practices shape the ways collections are understood, accessed, interpreted and cared for.
Documentation is never neutral. It is shaped by institutional histories, collecting practices, classification systems, standards, languages, technologies and power relations. At the same time, documentation is a vital tool for transparency, accountability, restitution, collaboration, digital transformation and new forms of knowledge-sharing.
Hosted at the AfricaMuseum, the 2026 conference will create space for dialogue across disciplines, institutions and geographies. Participants will explore how documentation can respond to historical legacies while supporting more inclusive, ethical and future-oriented museum practices.
The conference will include keynote lectures, paper sessions, workshops, roundtables, working group meetings, networking moments and opportunities to discover Tervuren, Brussels and the surrounding cultural landscape.
We warmly invite the international museum documentation community to join us in Belgium from 16 to 20 November 2026.