Drawings, books, textual documents, models, photographs, and archives of full works or projects are all part of what is conceived at the CCA as “one collection.” As a whole, it presents a broad and multifaceted idea of architecture, and becomes a source for the production of knowledge.

The Find and Tell program promotes new readings that highlight the intellectual relevance of particular aspects of this collection today. It is conceived as a series of residencies in which invited experts are asked to put forward arguments about our holdings by making a significant selection and interpretation of material within an archive or the photography collection. The curated selection can be based on key areas or periods, key projects, or a topical interest the expert thinks should be revealed.

Over the past years, the CCA has been working to ensure discoverability of this collection by a broad international audience. Given the size of the collection and its strong integration with research, CCA has decided to redefine this work as an opportunity to rethink the scope of its collection. Instead of reducing digitization and online accessibility to a technical operation, the program uses it to produce new ideas. This strategy is particularly relevant with archives, as their intellectual construction cannot be reduced to a set of samples or a disparate assemblage of individual objects.

Following each residency, the material selected by the experts is made available through the CCA website, accompanied by an essay that supports their specific curatorial approach.

Michael Meredith on the John Hejduk fonds (March 2018)
Peter Testa on the Álvaro Siza fonds (April 2018)
Inderbir Riar on the Van Ginkel Associates fonds (May 2018)
Kim Förster on the Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies fonds (June 2018)
Albert Ferré on the Foreign Office Architects fonds (December 2018)
Kurt Forster on the Aldo Rossi fonds (February 2019)
Yu Momoeda on the Shoei Yoh fonds (April 2019)
Sangeeta Bagga on the Pierre Jeanneret fonds (June 2019)
Shirley Blumberg on the John C. Parkin fonds (April 2022)
Elisabetta Trincherini on the Gianni Pettena fonds (January 2023)
Fala Atelier on the Umberto Riva fonds (August 2023)

The development phases of the Find and Tell program were funded by the City of Montréal and Quebec Ministry of Culture and Communications. Support of Dr. Sangeeta Bagga’s research residency is made possible in partnership with Phantom Hands, which also contributed to the processing of the Pierre Jeanneret fonds.