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The International Archives Congress: ICA Barcelona 2025 is structured around five interconnected subthemes that reflect the core challenges and opportunities facing the archival profession today. These subthemes serve as a framework to explore the Congress theme, “Knowing Pasts. Creating Futures.” Each sub-theme delves into critical topics that shape the role of archives in a rapidly changing world, from identity preservation and human rights to digital transformation and the future of the profession. Below, you will find the full descriptions of the five subthemes that will guide the discussions, presentations, and collaborative exchanges throughout the Congress:
To navigate the uncertainties of the future, humanity must not forget its past. In this context, archives are essential instruments of society, which is expressed through traditional communication channels and others that are constantly evolving. These include social networks and new social movements, which, in many cases, generate instant and ephemeral documentation.
In the context of a globalised and interconnected world, it is important to familiarise ourselves with the realities of the many identities that shape our time, and which are minoritised by political conflicts or have difficulties expressing themselves and living in complete freedom (for example LGBTQ+ or indigenous people). Beyond individual identity, collective identity, national and state identities create a setting which archives must consider from all perspectives. The social archive is a key advancement, creating archives that transcend official institutional culture and seek to interconnect with society.
Around the world there are episodes of forced displacement, displaced people and emergent movements whose memory and that of the reception spaces are important to preserve. These memories are fragile and endangered, and from the archives we must respond to preserve them as a testimony of human activity (displaced people), social activity (organisations supporting displaced people: humanitarian, medical, etc.), and official activity (driven by states and global organisations: UN, EU, etc.).
Archives are also essential in safeguarding the memory of occupied countries or the communities affected. International bodies that defend human rights promote different lines of support for these groups, and the safeguarding of documentary heritage is essential to guarantee the preservation of the memory and identity of nations or societies that have been the targets of conflict, usurpation, etc.
Archives guarantee personal and collective rights by providing access to our memory through heritage management. Document management ensures better access to documents, greater transparency and good governance of public administrations. In terms of collective rights, archives promote corporate social responsibility through collaboration between archives and society.
Within digital society, archives are digitising the past, present, and future. As a result, both digital humanities and artificial intelligence projects focus on documents, from all time periods. However, these strategies differ significantly from traditional models of knowledge transfer, often involving the direct construction of knowledge from information. This universal access to documents, data and information significantly changes the role of professionals.
The training of archive professionals is crucial in shaping the future of the profession. With new societal challenges and developments in the field, it is time for an in-depth debate on the functions of professionals, their expertise, professional skills, and areas of specialisation. We must assess the state of the profession and evaluate new realities and experiences to determine the professional hazards and opportunities faced by archivists and document managers.
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