Does Hardware Dictate Meaning? Three Variable Media Conservation Case Studies

Hardware and its inevitable obsolescence has become one of the greatest challenges to contemporary art conservation. ‘gold, pink and red, red’ (1964) is an installation of unadorned fluorescent lights by American artist Dan Flavin. Deliberate in his choice of off-the-shelf fixtures and tubes, conservators in museums around the world face major challenges as replacement bulbs and parts are no longer available. The same fate is quickly befalling works of "new" media art as the industry's constant need to upgrade makes our hardware obsolete before we even get it home from the store.

The questions we ask in regards to Dan Flavin's work are exactly the same as those we would ask of JODI or Cory Arcangel, or any other artist whose work is dependent on hardware to produce meaning. When we change the artwork's physical components, do we fundamentally alter the meaning of the work?

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