ETHICS AND PRACTICES OF MEDIA ART CONSERVATION, A WORK-IN-PROGRESS (VERSION 0.5) Part 2

Obsolescence
Although proper storage and maintenance can extend the natural lifespan of electronic media and equipment considerably, it is probably only a temporary solution, as all equipment will eventually break down. The question is if their lifespan can be extended indefinitely through maintenance and repairs, especially when spare parts also become obsolete. Besides proper storage, maintenance and use as ways to extend the natural lifespan of electronic media and equipment, as well as general preservation practices should be taken in consideration when thinking about conserving media art. Conservators are only just starting to be confronted with this problem but Tate, for example, is interested in managing the way in which artworks using rare equipment are displayed, rather than just packing them away.

They would love to explore if there is an option of having a special exhibition at some point dedicated to works of art that use rare equipment as a way to stimulate more discussion on these issues. For example, exhibit some of the works that use rare equipment for a limited time during the day, for study purposes, or conduct research at weekly events; otherwise it might be very difficult to do. It is preferable that these works are being dealt with and are on display, rather than being in storage. Tina Weidner believes that as long as the equipment is still there, it is better to keep it going³⁰.

Media art conservation has fostered new lines of enquiry, such as what is the estimated lifespan of a media artwork, and how can this be calculated? The sense of urgency in dealing with new media preservation was probably best expressed by Richard Rinehart, ‘With digital art, there’s no room for things to fall between the cracks. ... If you don’t do something to preserve it within a span of five years, it’s not going to survive.’³¹ This statement is especially valid for digital art; the estimated lifespan of video art is a little longer, but not much. Because of the rapid developments dictated by commercial suppliers, the data storage of media art (video, laser-disc, CD-ROM, DVD, software, networks, etc.) as well as it’s presentation technology (monitors, projectors, hardware, etc.) are seldom current for more than ten years. The first step in the conservation of video art installations is usually migrating the video signal to a format suitable for archiving. Once the original visual material from an obsolete carrier or an outdated format has been digitised, the visual material is no longer dependent on the accompanying obsolete playback technology. This migration makes it possible in most cases to replace equipment with contemporary models. However, this is difficult, if not impossible, if the ‘look and feel’ needs to be respected.

As, for example, with ‘Oratorium voor een geprepareerde videoplayer en acht monitoren’ (Oratory for Prepared Video Player and Eight Monitors, 1989), by Frank Theys, or Mon._ Sun. (1996) and Bach Two Part Intervention (1998), by Jonathan Horowitz, where the tapes are a sculptural elements too³².

In the case study Das Ende des Jahrhunderts Klaus vom Bruch stated that it is important not to fake the process. He prefers the original equipment but had no objections to updating it. He always wants the old equipment displayed beside the installation, so that viewers can see what the original work consisted of and that it has been updated.³³
The best approach to carrying out case studies of media artworks and the conservation of equipment were defined based on Inside Installations practice. The possible strategies for the conservation of equipment include:
• Restoring/repairing the original equipment
• Acquiring spare equipment:
o Historical copy: replacing the equipment with the same model or a type from the same period with the same or similar functions.
o New copy: replacing the equipment with the same model or type from a later period, i.e., a more recent model with the same or similar functions.
• Migration: Reconstructing the equipment with present-day technology.
• Emulation: Reconstructing the equipment with present-day technology while retaining the original look and feel.
• Re-interpretation: Replacing the equipment with present-day equipment based on the metaphorical values of the original equipment (the exterior of the new equipment is not per definition the same as the original equipment, but will have the same ‘status’ within the time-frame in which the equipment is used).
• Reconstruction: A complete reconstruction of the work based on whatever information is still available.

Identifying functional significance is seen as starting point to understanding the importance and use of the equipment. The key questions are:
• Is the equipment purely functional or not?
• Can the function of the equipment be mapped without discernible change?
• Is the equipment visible or hidden from the viewer?

The general strand in these cases is to replace equipment or components with the same mass-produced model or with equipment having the same functionality. Replacing equipment when the look and feel of visible components and output belongs to a particular historical moment in time, or is related to a particular context, or to contemporary use of that technology, could endanger the aesthetic and historical integrity.

The use of modern equipment usually means a change in the appearance of the work compared to the original version. In some cases the original equipment is an essential part of the work; the artwork ceases to exist when this equipment disappears or becomes obsolete. It is therefore important to assess the status of the equipment within the artwork in order to arrive at a conservation strategy with regard to the equipment used.

The case studies show that there is a clear distinction between the significance of playback and display equipment. This issue is raised regularly in interviews. The consensus is that in most cases the playback equipment can be upgraded without causing too many problems. Display equipment is more problematic, however. Johannes Gfeller is quite categorical about this and advises interfering with the display equipment as little as possible. Pip Laurenson is more flexible in this regard and does not consider upgrading projectors as a significant problem, but has doubts about upgrading CRT monitors. Experience, research and the interviews with Pip Laurenson and Tina Weidner, among others, show that we should not rely on manufacturers as sources of vital technical information. The experience garnered by museums themselves is often considerably more important.

When it comes to replacing obsolete equipment, conservators and artists do not necessarily share the same viewpoint, and in such instances consultation and respect for each other’s point of view is essential. This can lead to surprising results. The Museum of Modern Art in Antwerp (M HKA) wants to upgrade ‘Oratorium…’ by using digital signals, but the artist is opposed to this and wants to retain the analogue signal. Artists are also happy to help find a solution – Klaus vom Bruch suggested displaying the obsolete equipment of Das Ende des Jahrhunderts, 1985, alongside the new (although quite how this should be done is still unclear).

Upgrading or replacement is not necessarily a negative approach; Peter Struycken, for example, was pleasantly surprised by the new version of Project I-’90:

I was surprised to see this work again in such a comprehensible condition after 20 years. Although all sorts of inaccuracies have crept in over the course of time, I had an extremely good impression of my work. I regard the reconstructed version in the same way you would listen to an old gramophone record. The intention of the performer remains audible despite all the scratches and clicks. And in this reconstruction I can clearly and easily recognise my own intentions.³⁴

In the interview with Pip Laurenson and Tina Weidner, Weidner stated that almost anything is preferable to ending up in a situation where the work cannot be exhibited because those involved cling resolutely to the original equipment. Basically, if something has been lost, it should be acknowledged as such and made clear to the public (e.g., by creating or changing labels). This would thus be a curatorial responsibility.

Risk analysis
As risk is defined as the ‘the expected loss of value’, the initial cultural value of an object or collection needs to be established. The greatest threats to media artworks are malfunction, autonomous decay and dissociation. The risk assessment methodology developed for collections of ‘traditional’ art provides a practical route to follow. This methodology was used for the first time during the Inside Installations project to evaluate risks facing media art³⁵.

The core issues in risk analysis are:
• Identifying the risks: what has the past taught us, and what future risks can be expected that will shorten the lifespan of the equipment?
• Time pressure: how quickly should actions be taken to avert the threats or minimise their impact? What are the likely consequences of waiting too long?
• Technical and financial restraints: what is technically possible and what is financially feasible?
• Unpredictability: what can be done about dangers or risks that are difficult to predict at present?

This methodology assesses significance against four primary criteria (determining whether there is any cultural significance) and four comparative criteria (determining the degree of significance). Assessing the artistic/aesthetic values is the first primary criterion, which in contemporary art conservation is often referred to as ‘the heart of the artwork’.

In the case study ‘Oratorium voor een geprepareerde videoplayer en acht monitoren’, by Frank Theys, 1989, the equipment, i.e., the modified ¾” U-matic top loader, the 8 identical CRT monitors and the guitar amplifier including the speaker (and, of course, the 3/4” videotape) were regarded as key factors for the risk analysis.
The word ‘Oratorium’ (‘Oratory’) in the title has two meanings: ‘Oratory’ stands for a choral work usually of a religious nature consisting chiefly of recitatives, arias, and choruses without action or scenery, and is also the name for a prayer room with a small altar, in this case a loudspeaker (or, in the first version, loudspeakers) with a video player on top. In this way, Frank Theys uses a video installation to create a sacred space in which ritual and alienation meet. At the same time he also pokes fun at grand emotions such as patriotism and rivalry. The meaning of the work comes, on the one hand, from the use of the exhibition space and, on the other hand, the use of the image as music: the display of the same close-up of a man singing ‘ You’ll never walk alone’ on all of the monitors results in a continuous repetition of sound and image such that the video becomes music and the music becomes video. Because the work is installed in the exhibition space in a transparent way, viewers can understand how this video installation functions. They can walk around the circular installation and observe the videotape running as a loop in and out of the ¾” U-matic player. They can see how this ¾” U-matic player transmits the video signal through a set of cables to the eight CRT monitors, and the audio signal to the audio equipment (and the CRT monitors). The display equipment transforms the signals into image and sound. Through their arrangement in a circle around the video loop, with their screens facing the centre, the CRT monitors seem to ‘encourage’ their own support/carrier. After all, the image and the music cannot exist without the support/carrier (the ¾” U-matic tape).³⁶

Historical value, the second primary criterion, was recognised as the (art)historical period in which the artwork was created. ‘Oratorium…’ was created at the end of the 1980s, a couple of years before media art came to maturity in the 1990s. It is also the period that corresponds with the beginning of the obsolescence of the ¾” U-matic format (and with the beginning of the widespread change-over from analogue to digital video).

Of the four comparative criteria (condition/completeness, provenance, rarity/representative and interpretive capacity), condition/completeness is paramount.

The constituent parts of the installation are integral parts of an ‘ensemble’, which should have the same look and feel as the original, even if technical components need replacing. If ‘Oratorium…’ lost its ‘functionality’, it would lose its ‘identity’ as a video installation and its frame would only be a ‘historic document’. The two main values for the total significance of ‘Oratorium…’ are artistic/aesthetic, subdivided into the characteristics that determine its identity: its relationship with the exhibition space, the arrangement of the equipment and its visual appearance…. By considering what would remain if the entire functionality (and thus the experience of the work) failed, it was determined that the ‘remains’ – the sculptural ‘corpse’ of the non-functional components (CRT monitors, video player and amplifier with loudspeaker) – still contributed historic and documentary values amounting to 10% of the total significance.

In the next step the abovementioned values were linked to the components determining the ‘look and feel’ of the work.

For example, the experience of sound, image and motion could be directly related to the arrangement of the various installation components in the exhibition space, the free movement of the viewer through the exhibition space, the ¾” videotape driven by a modified ¾” U-matic playback system and running in a visible loop through the exhibition space, the wear and tear of the ¾” U-matic videotape through use, the vulnerability and sensitivity of the entire technical set-up, the volume of the sound created by the guitar amplifier and the eight CRT monitors, and the calibration of the eight identical CRT monitors. Together, all these factors form a complex of interdependencies (both tangible and intangible) that should be taken into account in order to estimate the impact of expected changes in the future.

As shown above, risk analysis can establish significance and describe an artwork’s anatomy and identity. Furthermore, risks can be identified and scenarios can be developed that describe the anticipated future loss of value. Since replacement, migration and emulation are widespread conservation strategies for media art, the possibility of including recoverability of lost value can be explored in the assessment. Compared to the decisions curators and conservators might make based on their individual knowledge and experience, the rational, collaborative and structured risk assessment methodology can provide increased insights into the identity of the work and a ranking of the risks³⁷. But case studies and interviews also show that we will never completely get to grips with the technical aspects. As Pip Laurenson says, you could obtain, for example, the statistics relating to failures from the manufacturers but you will never know what these are based on, and increasing amounts of second-hand equipment with an unknown history will be used³⁸.

It seems that identifying, weighing, and navigating a different set of values for media artworks, such as meaning, function and intention, and how all of them will change over time would be even more appropriate.

Documentation
Due to their many variations in technology, effects and form, media artworks tend to follow a dynamic life cycle and require specific documentation. This documentation is at the heart of any preservation strategy for media art. Improving efforts to preserve media artworks will be far more complex without the support of structured documentation about the works and their context. An important task necessary to be able to adequately present (and experience) media art now and in the future is documenting the specific requirements for the presentation of media artworks. This is no easy task, as the ‘optimum’ form of presentation is difficult to define precisely for many such works. Furthermore, the original ‘authentic’ state often varies greatly through the course of different presentations. Thus, not only different presentations but also the various stages in the life of a media artwork (e.g., creation, presentation, guardianship) can supply information and documentation that could be of interest for its re-installation and preservation.

From the DOCAM website: ‘Documentation has been defined as a source of information that can fill many roles, depending on its use and time. First and foremost, from the moment the work is conceived, its documentation serves the artists and their collaborators – the first producers of documentation. As its development progresses, the documentation targets a growing audience – from conservators to curators and art critics – thus playing an important role in the mediation, dissemination and history of the artwork. Next, and often concurrent with this, the documentation is used and expanded upon through a variety of actions and activities, such as the work’s (re-)installation, preservation and restoration. Over time, re-installation and re-contextualization may be carried out. Later still, documentary elements may compensate for various ‘losses’ or deterioration suffered by the work, stemming primarily from the obsolescence of its technology or components. Ultimately, it is the documentation that will survive the work, becoming its historical witness and sometimes supplementing any remaining fragments or relics.’³⁹

It is impossible to exhibit a video work or a multimedia work if the original equipment and the information about the components and the whole are lost. A lack of instructions may, for instance, lead to a faulty installation and/or an undesirable effect as a result of the incorrect playback speed, sound volume, resolution or surroundings.

For example, Straggling by Christian Bastiaans was presented in 1997, 2003, 2006 and 2009/2010. In 1997 and 2006 only one of the four audiovisual elements was projected. No documentation exists for the 2003 presentation, but as far as could be established no projection was involved. An artist interview was conducted for the Club Mama Gemütlich retrospective exhibition of Bastiaan’s oeuvre (30 October 2009 – 21 February 2010) and the optimum presentation requirements were documented; the artist states in this documentation that no projection is needed. The 2009/2010 presentation was in line with the artist’s intention.⁴⁰

And, as frequently happens in performance-based art, theatre and music, the documentation could be the only surviving trace of the work.

The work Mill x Molen (1982), by Bert Schutter, is conceptually connected to time-specific artistic research. If the monitors break down beyond repair and cannot be replaced by others (from the same period), the installation should be declared dead and a reconstruction should be seen as documentation.⁴²

Tina Weidner: ‘I honestly think that this kind of idea has been too overworked. How much more time do you want to spend behind a desk only doing things to replace the work? I think that what is more important is to fight to keep the works accessible, and then you can address the conservation needs to keep them displayable. But I wouldn’t feel comfortable just putting paperwork up in a gallery.... It seems that in such cases everyone wants to exhibit the documentation instead of the actual work, but I haven’t seen an example that prompted me to say “very nicely delivered, it really gave me a feel for the work….” I think that if you are going to do it, you should do it on a wider scale and not just with paperwork.’ Pip Laurenson: ‘For some works you could have a documentary video, for example, which might help future viewers understand what the work looked like. … Although we haven’t had to fully confront this problem yet, I’m sure we will. It came up because we have been thinking about Nam June Paik recently and for many of his works the value and importance of the CRT monitors is obviously very high.’⁴²

Since media art works require a proactive approach to care and management, gathering information that will ensure their display and care into the future is crucial at the moment of acquisition. Fortunately, a growing number of museums and other collecting institutions such as Tate, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam and NIMk acknowledge the importance of documentation for future presentations and are prepared to integrate or already integrate a documentation strategy while acquiring the media art works.

Last but by no means least: the need for an interdisciplinary dialogue
Many of the difficult decisions faced by conservators of media art that are described in this essay pose highly complex ethical dilemmas, and in numerous instances there are disagreements within the conservation profession on how to resolve conflicting values. Art history and conservation have traditionally relied on the authority that each field brings to an artwork’s meaning and the way it is understood. This has to be re-evaluated when it comes to media artworks. We need an ongoing interdisciplinary dialogue wherein we re-think and revise the traditional and strict role definitions of the conservator, researcher, artist, curator, dealer, and others, as well as develop additional forums to discuss these issues in a cross–disciplinary way⁴³. NIMk and PACKED offer this forum in the Obsolete Equipment project.


Appendix 1. Projects, guidelines and best practices in media art conservation

In recent years projects and institutions such as the Variable Media Network and Questionnaire, DOCAM, Inside Installations and Imago Revisited, Tate, Media Matters, Active Archive and NIMk, have developed specific guidelines and best practices for the maintenance and conservation of media art. A selection of projects are highlighted in this essay and listed in this appendix.

Variable Media Initiative
The Variable Media Initiative (VMI) was initially supported by a grant from the Daniel Langlois Foundation for Art, Science, and Technology of Montreal, Canada⁴⁴, which comprises a group of international institutions and consultants, including University of Maine, the Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archives, Franklin Furnace, Guggenheim Museum New York, Rhizome.org, and Performance Art Festival & Archives. Variable Media Network (VMN) is recognised for its new preservation approach, which integrates the analysis of materials with the definition of an artwork independent of its medium, allowing the work to be translated once its current medium becomes obsolete. By identifying the behaviour of a work (contained, installed, performed, reproduced, etc.) and strategies (storage, emulation, migration, and reinterpretation), artists, conservators and curators can advance the preservation of new media art. Describing a work of art, not only as a list of components and materials, but also by the way it behaves, is crucial to the Variable Media methodology. The four associated preservation strategies range from traditional to radical. Storage is the default strategy for most museums. For time-based media like film and video, this means keeping original projectors and hardware running for as long as possible, as well as stockpiling old equipment. For these types of works, migration is often seen as a more successful strategy. To emulate a work involves devising a way of imitating the original look of a piece by entirely different means. The term can be applied generally to a re-fabrication of an artwork’s components, but also has a specific meaning in the context of digital media, where emulation offers a powerful technique for running an outdated computer on a contemporary one. By far, the most radical strategy is to reinterpret the work each time it is recreated.
The Variable Media Initiative (VMI) organised symposia such as ‘Preserving the Immaterial: A Conference on Variable Media’ in March 2001⁴⁵, and the follow-up to this symposium ‘Echoes of Art: Emulation As a Preservation Strategy’ in May 2004⁴⁶. It also published Permanence Through Change: The Variable Media Approach in 2003⁴⁷, and held the exhibition Seeing Double: Emulation in Theory and Practice in Spring 2004⁴⁸.
Furthermore the Variable Media Questionnaire was developed⁴⁹, which is an interactive form linked to a database and is designed to assist artists and museum staff when drafting variable media guidelines. The Questionnaire is not meant to be exhaustive, but is intended to spur questions that must be answered in order to capture artists’ desires about how to translate their work into new mediums once the work’s original medium has expired. The Questionnaire asks questions about the inherent behaviour of each artwork that requires preservation. The database to which it is linked is available on request to artists and anyone else who would like to try it.

DOCAM
DOCAM (Documentation and Conservation of the Media Arts Heritage, 2005–10) was an international research alliance initiated by the Daniel Langlois Foundation for Art, Science, and Technology. DOCAM included several partners, such as the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, the National Gallery of Canada, the Canadian Centre for Architecture, the Canadian Heritage Information Network, as well as departments at the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQÀM), Université de Montréal and McGill. Its main objective was to develop new methodologies and tools to address the issues of preserving and documenting digital, technological, and electronic works of art, including the history of technology.
DOCAM conducted a number of case studies. The practical work carried out as part of the case studies produced five guides and tools that are now accessible on the DOCAM website:
• A Cataloguing Guide for New Media Collections;⁵⁰
• The DOCAM Glossaurus – a bilingual terminological tool;⁵¹
• The DOCAM Documentary Model adapted to media art;⁵²
• A Technological Timeline, which includes media artworks and technological components;⁵³
• A Preservation Guide for Technology-Based Artworks.⁵⁴

Choosing from the various conservation strategies is simplified by a series of questions that can be answered using a decision tree developed by DOCAM⁵⁵. The decision tree is a restoration tool that allows stakeholders to identify the problems and potential solutions associated with preserving works that incorporate technological components. The tool facilitates decision-making by helping users focus on those aspects of a work that relate to its integrity and authenticity, while reflecting on how these aspects are impacted by the work’s technological components. The decision tree is applied to issues that define the roles played by technological components as elements of a work’s meaning. Is the equipment visible? Does it have a particular significance? What is the artist’s point of view? The answers to these and other questions help stakeholders identify the best restoration option from those outlined in the first two sections of DOCAM’s Preservation Guide for Technology-Based Artworks (emulation, migration, storage and reinterpretation).
In addition, a number of educational activities such as the DOCAM seminars and international summits were held and the documentation generated by these events is available on the DOCAM website.

Inside Installations
Inside Installations: Preservation and Presentation of Installation Art was a three-year research project (2004–7) into the care and management of installation art⁵⁶. Over 33 installations, with a large corpus of media art installations, were re-installed, investigated and documented. Experience was shared and partners collaborated to develop good practice for five research topics:
• Preservation Strategies
• Artists’ Participation
• Documentation & Archiving Strategies
• Theory and Semantics
• Networking (Knowledge Management and Information Exchange)
In addition to information about artists and works involved in the project, the highly informative Inside Installations website provides general information about the project, access to lectures from project events, e-learning resources, a project bibliography and more. The nature of installation art is distinct from traditional art because it is wholly dependent on display for its realisation. An installation is more than a collection of physical objects – it often includes relationships to the space and dynamic behaviours. It is crucial to establish a full description of the state of an installation in order to understand the significance of the component parts for the installation as a whole. Only then can appropriate preservation strategies be developed and evaluated. The conservator’s preservation activities follow this shift away from a unique material object to an installed event. Conservation has moved beyond minimising change of a physical object to a broader mission to enable the installation of the work in the future in line with the artist’s intention and the historical character of the work. The research relating to Preservation Strategies focused on two main themes:
• Firstly, using risk analysis as a tool for developing conservation plans that addressed the complex needs of artists’ installations.
• Secondly, exploring the changing role of the conservator and curator in response to the preservation and presentation of artists’ installations.
The project was co-organised by Tate, London; Restaurierungszentrum der Landeshauptstadt, Dusseldorf; Municipal Museum of Contemporary Art (S.M.A.K.), Ghent; Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (MNCARS), Madrid; and the Foundation for the Conservation of Modern Art (SBMK), the Netherlands, and was managed by the Netherlands Institute for Cultural Heritage (ICN). The project was executed by members of the International Network for the Conservation of Contemporary Art.

Matters in Media Art
Matters in Media Art is a multi-phase project designed to provide guidelines for the care and management of time-based media artworks. The project was created in 2003 by a consortium of curators, conservators, registrars and media technical managers from New Art Trust, MoMA, SFMOMA and Tate. The first phase of the project, on loaning time-based media works, was launched in 2004, and the second phase, on acquiring time-based media works, started in 2007.
The installation of time-based media works requires new skills and new areas of collaboration within museums. Whereas internationally agreed standards exist for the handling, installation and care of traditional works of art, such standards for time-based media works are rare. The project aims to raise awareness about the requirements of these works and provide a practical response to the need for international agreements between museums.
Matters in Media Art developed process diagrams and documents for loans as guidelines and templates for institutions and owners to follow when borrowing and lending time-based media artworks. These documents include sample templates for exhibition budgets, condition reports, facilities reports, installation documents and loan agreements. They seek to update existing practices for more traditional art by incorporating new requirements for time-based media. Because time-based media artworks require a proactive approach to their care and management, it is crucial to gather information that will ensure their display and care into the future at the moment of their acquisition. The process diagram and documents for the acquisition process are grouped into three overlapping phases: pre-acquisition, accessioning, and post-acquisition. Although these three phases are distinct, knowledge about the artwork builds continuously from the moment it is considered for acquisition to final installation and long-term storage. This knowledge informs future decisions about storing, exhibiting, loaning, and conserving the work. In the future the project will also address the needs of computer-based arts⁵⁷.

AktiveArchive
The research project AktiveArchive, is an initiative of Bern University of the Arts (BUA) in collaboration with the Swiss Institute for Art Research in Zurich (SIK/ISEA)⁵⁸.
This project is dedicated to the preservation and documentation of electronic media and spatially related artworks; this is done by conducting specific case studies. The artwork is treated as a whole, focusing not just on the preservation of the electronic audiovisual part, but also on the other materials used, such as the hardware, and plastic, wood or metal components. AktiveArchive strives to make all the components of the artwork accessible and secure for the long-term by conducting research into restoration and development methods of digital and electronic components combined with documentation and interpretation of the works. In this way it becomes not just a transfer of information to another medium, but an authentic re-enactment or documentation of the piece. The research into the fields of technique, conservation, documentation and art history are passed on to museums, collections and artists of interest.
AktiveArchive has a unique and large hardware pool, containing thousands of hardware components, such as broadcast video recorders and PVM-200 B/W monitors⁵⁹. This hardware pool makes it possible to view or migrate artworks that would otherwise be difficult to access or maintain.
As part of the research in the digital field, AktiveArchive is proposing virtualisation as a preservation strategy for born-digital artworks. In brief, virtualisation involves preserving the original coding, hardware and operating system and visualising it in a virtual environment⁶.


I would very much like to thank my Obsolete Equipment colleagues. Special thanks go to Rony Vissers for his feedback and Mark Poysden for his editing.

Click here to read the first part of the article.


Notes

³⁰ From the case study report by researcher Dieter Vermeulen.
³¹ See footnote 32.
³² From the interview with Peter Struycken by Gaby Wijers, 2009.
³³ Brokerhof, Agnes W., et al., ‘Installation Art Subjected to Risk Assessment – Jeffrey Shaw’s ‘Revolution’ as Case Study’, forthcoming 2011.
³⁴ As described by Rony Vissers.
³⁵ See footnote 35.
³⁶ See footnote 30.
³⁷ Link: http://www.docam.ca
³⁸ From the case study report by researcher Evelyne Snijders.
³⁹ From the interview with Bert Schutter by Gaby Wijers, 2009.
⁴⁰ Link: http://www.packed.be/en/resources/detail/interview_met_pip_laurenson_deel_2/interviews/#47
⁴¹ Link: http://getty.museum/conservation/science/modpaints/CIMCA_meeting_jun08.pdf
⁴² Link: http://www.fondation-langlois.org/html/e/
⁴³ Link: http://www.variablemedia.net/e/preserving/html/var_pre_index.html
⁴⁴ Link: http://www.variablemedia.net/e/echoes/index.html
⁴⁵ Link: http://www.variablemedia.net/e/preserving/html/var_pub_index.html
⁴⁶ Link: http://www.variablemedia.net/e/seeingdouble/
⁴⁷ Link: http://variablemediaquestionnaire.net/
⁴⁸ Link: http://www.docam.ca/en/cataloguing-guide.html
⁴⁹ Link: http://www.docam.ca/en/glossaurus.html
⁵⁰ Link: http://www.docam.ca/en/cataloguing-guide.html
⁵¹ Link: http://www.docam.ca/en/glossaurus.html
⁵² Link: http://www.docam.ca/en/documentation-model.html
⁵³ Link: http://www.docam.ca/en/technological-timeline.html
⁵⁴ Link: http://www.docam.ca/en/conservation-guide.html
⁵⁵ Link: http://www.docam.ca/en/restoration-decisions/a-decision-making-model-the-decision-tree.html
⁵⁶ Link: http://www.inside-installations.org/home/index.php
⁵⁷ Link: http://www.tate.org.uk/research/tateresearch/majorprojects/mediamatters/
⁵⁸ Link: http://www.aktivearchive.ch
⁵⁹ Gfeller, Johannes, ‘The Reference Hardware Pool of AktiveArchive at the Bern University of Arts. A Basis for a Historically Well-informed Re-performance of Media Art’ in: Reconstructing Swiss Art, 1970–1980. Zurich: JRP/Ringier 2009, p. 166–74.
⁶⁰ Lurk, T., Virtualisation as Preservation Measure. A Contribution to Handling of Born-Digital Media Art. AktiveArchive – BUA, Bern University of the Arts. Link: http://www.aktivearchive.ch/fileuploads/pdfs/Virtualisation_Summary.pdf