Interview with Joanna Phillips (part 2/2)

PACKED: If the manuals exist, are they stored with the equipment?

Joanna Phillips: No, we are storing them separately.

PACKED: Do you always lend the equipment with the work when it goes to another museum?

Joanna Phillips: No, certainly not the undedicated equipment. We give precise equipment specs and have to approve the equipment the borrower proposes to use. However, we do send equipment, when it’s a dedicated part of the artwork, and sometimes, as a courtesy, if the equipment is non-dedicated, but obsolete, and hard to get. Having said that, we seem to be more comfortable with sending slide projectors, or overhead projectors – for 16mm projectors or CRT monitors, we prefer to have the borrower rent or purchase their own equipment, for two reasons: first we want to save the hours on our own obsolete equipment, and second we cannot promise that our equipment will last for the duration of their exhibition. We prefer the borrower to be responsible for the maintenance and replacement, if something fails to run.

PACKED: Do you have spare monitors for Marina Abramovic’s 'Cleaning the mirror' installation?

Joanna Phillips: Yes, we have one spare monitor, and we always plan for replacement devices.


PACKED: If you had to find a manual, how would you do it?

Joanna Phillips: I always try online first. Actually, my engineer colleague Maurice Schechter introduced me to a very interesting series of comprehensive equipment manuals called “Photofact”¹. It was published by a group of people who in the 1970’s started to rewrite manuals when the equipment was newly released. Each “Photofact” issue features several different, now historic audio and video devices. The initiative behind this was to create manuals that were easy to understand for the DIY community, with photos of the circuit boards and comprehensive descriptions. These Photofact booklets can be found online, too. We restored Nam June Paik’s² “Random Access” with the help of a Photofact manual!




Comparing the opened audio deck of Nam June Paik’s “Random Access” to the image of the same part in the “Photofact” manual shows that the Paik studio had removed the original motor to fit a new transformer into the device.



The Guggenheim version of Nam June Paik’s “Random Access” (1963/1999) after the completed restoration. The plexiglass housing for the devices was fabricated by the Paik Studio, and signed by the artist.


PACKED: How are these kinds of manuals related to the work or to the equipment in your TMS system ?

Joanna Phillips: Unfortunately, TMS is still problematic for accommodating data on technology-based artworks. Therefore, until TMS is expanded , we must have a complementary documentation system in place: modular word documents, to be uploaded to TMS as PDFs. On the documentation forms, the equipment gets listed, and a checkbox indicates if there are manuals or extra device sheets existent. The device sheets, tech specs usually printed out from the internet, are kept in the conservation files, which are hard copy paper files. The service manuals are kept in the manual collection.


PACKED: Like a technical library in a TV station or broadcast facility?

Joanna Phillips: Not in size, but yes in principle.


PACKED: Is the rest of the documentation of the work, like the press release for example, in this paper folder?

Joanna Phillips: Yes, and also the entire e-mail correspondence pertaining to the artwork. I’m not happy with this paper system. I would much rather use the benefits of a database and what it offers in terms of sharing and updating information, but TMS does not offer the opportunity to do it yet. At the moment if I ever update something on my documentation sheets, I have to remove the PDF document from the database, change the Word version of this document, make a new PDF out of it and upload it again!


PACKED: Does the equipment get regularly serviced and maintained?

Joanna Phillips: No, there is no regular maintenance. The equipment is only maintained or serviced when it is asked for an exhibition, or sometimes when it returns from an exhibition and seems to be in bad shape.


PACKED: Do you have special exhibition procedures for the equipment during an exhibition?

Joanna Phillips: It depends on the kind of equipment. With older, delicate equipment, like film or slide projectors, we apply weekly cleaning and maintenance during the show. For aged CRTs, it’s beneficial and life-prolonging to never switch off the power for the duration of the show. To save the phosphor, you simply switch off the separately powered video feed overnight. It is crucial to keep the tubes at even temperature, and to avoid the sudden power boost that is triggered when the CRT is switched on. This practice does not only save the tube, but also the preset white balance and other adjustments. For Marina Abramovic’s 'Cleaning the Mirror' we even decided to bypass the power switches to prevent visitors from switching the tubes off. Of course, monitors also have to be cleaned on a regular basis, their electric charge attracts a lot of dust.


PACKED: What would you consider from your experience to be the most problematic equipment or components of equipment?

Joanna Phillips: I think, CRT-based equipment is most problematic. Once the tube is exhausted, you cannot restore it anymore. Other kinds of obsolete equipment, such as open-reel video and audio devices, or film projectors, have more of a chance of survival, even if the original mechanical and electronic parts are not available anymore and have to be custom-reconstructed to restore functions. Of course, video heads are becoming a major problem. Regarding CRTs, we are in a particularly difficult time now, because the CRT production has only just been terminated a few years ago, and they are still very present in our memory and expectation. We have grown accustomed to the boxed image, the sculptural qualities, the aesthetics of the visible video lines, and of course the 4:3 aspect ratio³ that most artist’s video has been produced for up until recently. Many artists insist on CRT presentation, and we simply have to provide them as long as we can. How hard that can be already now, and in particular if you have not stockpiled them in advance, was the lesson I learned when we prepared the Abramovic CRTs. I think in the next few years, a lot of artworks will either have to face a significant, conceptual and/or aesthetical change, or they cannot be shown anymore.


PACKED: How do you preserve your video works?

Joanna Phillips: When we acquire a video work, we ask for an Artist’s Master and an Artist’ Exhibition Copy. For SD⁴ video, we are asking for Digital Betacam and 10-bit uncompressed⁵.mov files⁶. For HD video⁷, we are mostly asking for HDCAM SR⁸ (depending on the production format) and 10-bit uncompressed .mov files. We create tape and file clones for redundant storage, and are also step by step digitizing our entire video tape collection to 10 bit uncompressed .mov files.
As a consequence, our rapidly increasing need for server storage space is becoming a real problem, particularly since most contemporary artists have started to exclusively produce in High Definition, which is requiring even more storage space. Together with our IT department, we are working on new storage strategies. One of our conservation priorities is to dedicate a separate server to the artworks, with redundant storage and off-site back-up.


PACKED: How do you finance the digitization of the video tapes?

Joanna Phillips: Whenever a collection work is selected for exhibition, either in-house or at another institution, we have it digitized. We cover this preservation measure by the respective exhibition budget, so to speak as a preparation of the work for this show, and the following shows. The occasion of an exhibition is a good point in time for digitization, because you have to view the material anyway, you might want to produce new exhibition copies, the artist is contacted for the exhibition, and therefore easily available for any outstanding conservation questions. For new acquisitions, we have started to ask for 10 bit uncompressed .mov files, additionally to the tape-based master material.


PACKED: Are the transfers and the copies done in-house?

Joanna Phillips: No, only the previewing and condition/quality checking, the digitization is done at a post-production facility. Our in-house infrastructure is sufficient, but minimal, it includes a broadcast monitor, a vectorscope⁹ and a wave form monitor to monitor the video signal. A switcher allows me to compare the video input from different source devices. The big advantage of viewing the video in-house is that you don’t have to pay an A/V technician or editor to sit with you, and you can take all the time you need. When viewing video works in a post-production house, I feel a sense of time pressure, and it can cost up to $250/hour to have post-house staff devote their time exclusively to your project.
Here in the lab I can repeat a sequence as often as I need to, and also capture glitches or image errors for documentation. Whenever I come across unfamiliar phenomena, I will seek professional advise from the post-house staff and view the respective sequence together with them.


PACKED: Do you also document the technical aspect as part of the work's documentation?

Joanna Phillips: Yes, I try to document everything necessary to understand the piece. Next to the textual documentation, I am actually in great favor of video documentation. As an example, I made a three minute video of how we prepared the aged PVM monitors for Abramovic’s 'Cleaning the mirror', how we dismantled them, cleaned them and adjusted them.



Still images of the video documentation on preparing aged Sony PVM monitors for exhibition (video editing by Record-Installations¹⁰).


PACKED: Will this documentation become part of the artwork's file?

Joanna Phillips: Yes, all our conservation images and videos are stored on a server. We add metadata to the images using “Lightroom”¹¹. The metadata for the videos are not embedded in the files, but in a separate textual “READ_ME” file in rtf-format that is stored in the same folder as the video.

PACKED: Do you also acquire the equipment when the Guggenheim acquires a media work?

Joanna Phillips: Usually not, unless of course it’s dedicated equipment. If the work is based on non-dedicated, but obsolete equipment, Conservation will strongly advocate the purchase of the equipment. Unfortunately, these costs are usually not planned for in the acquisition budget, and we might have to wait for the artwork’s first display to cover the equipment costs with exhibition funds. A good example is the slide-based work “In the near future” by Sharon Hayes¹² that we acquired a few weeks ago. The piece consists of 13 slide projectors, which are becoming harder and increasingly expensive to get, this applies also to their lenses. The projectors were not part of the acquisition, but the artist has offered a good price for sourcing the equipment for us. Fortunately, we were able to accept this offer, because the piece has been selected for an upcoming exhibition. Otherwise, we would have been in trouble, because we would not have enough slide projectors in our “dedicated, shared equipment” pool to install the piece, and we can expect them to become rarer, and more expensive even in a couple of years’ time.


PACKED: When do you document a work of the collection if it hasn’t been done before?

Joanna Phillips: The best point in time is during the install of the piece, on-site, in close contact and exchange with the artist or artist’s assistant. This is when many important questions are raised, and technical and aesthetical decisions are made and can be witnessed. Again, video documentation lends itself perfectly to this purpose, much better than still photography does. The problem is that I don’t have enough time to edit everything I shoot. Because I don’t want to create a backlog of unedited information, inaccessible or incomprehensible for other people, I had to reduce my recording to a minimum. I would love to delegate the editing work. But since I am on my own for now, and budgets are tight, I have to keep the amount of created information manageable.


PACKED: Do you also make interviews with the artists?

Joanna Phillips: Yes, we are in regular exchange with the artist in preparation of exhibitions, or the Conservation Department is inviting the artist over to discuss particular preservation issues. We video or audio record these interviews, transcribe them and share the transcripts through our database with the rest of the staff.


PACKED: When restoration has to be done whereby you have to change something, is this always done in cooperation with the artist?

Joanna Phillips: If the artist is alive, and available, we always include the artist’s statement and opinion into our decision-making process. However, with contemporary and installed artworks, the changes often happen on occasion of their exhibition, not necessarily in the conservation lab. The artist wants to adjust the piece to the space and its conditions, or “update” the technology for a better show. This is particularly true for the Guggenheim Museum, because the space in the historic Frank Lloyd Wright building can hardly provide the white cube or black box scenario that media artworks are often laid out for. It’s not dark enough, there are no enclosed rooms, the audio is bouncing off the reflective walls and floors and the variability of the pieces is often challenged to its limits. As a conservator, I try to take into account all previous manifestations of the work, and compare the Guggenheim version against this background. The overall picture allows me to better understand the identity of the artwork, and its limits of flexibility. I capture the artist’s voice on the concept of the piece, and ask questions about possible future installations.
If an artist wishes to update his or her work to an extent that alters the meaning or identity of the work substantially, we will negotiate to describe this update as a dated version, even if it will be the preferred version for display from now on. A good example is the video “Sleeptalking” (1998) by Pierre Huyghe¹³. In the original version, the three minute long video was looped continuously to match a 64 minute long soundtrack that was separately played back from a CD. Now, twelve years after the work was created, Huyghe wanted to combine the audio with the video. When we received the remastered video, we noticed that the image material itself was not looped anymore, but had been reedited to extend to the duration of the 64 minutes. Although this is the way that the artist had always wanted to show the piece, “Sleeptalking” is now dated as “1998/2010 remastered version”.


PACKED: How do you manage all the technical knowledge needed to take care of this collection?

Joanna Phillips: I try to understand as much as possible and to constantly learn more by working with the right experts. But I think it is characteristic for time-based media conservation that you can never become the expert knowing everything, simply because technology keeps changing and evolving so rapidly. The more important it is to create and cultivate a good relationship with engineers, A/V technicians, film timers, and other specialists, to benefit from their expertise and to migrate relevant knowledge to the conservation field.

Click here to read part 1 of the interview.

Notes

¹ See https://www.samswebsite.com
² Nam June Paik (1932 –2006) was a Korean-born American artist. He worked with a variety of media and is considered as one of the most important video artist. His works often comprises sculptures and installations with TV sets and modified CRTs. In 1969, he created the Paik/Abe synthesizer with the artist/engineer Shuya Abe. See: http://www.paikstudios.com/Random Access
³ The 4:3 ratio for standard television has been in use since television's origins and many computer monitors use the same aspect ratio. 4:3 is the aspect ratio defined by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as a standard after the advent of optical sound-on-film.
⁴ The term Standard Definition (SD) refers to an image resolution of 480 picture lines (for NTSC) or 576 picture lines (for PAL). The resolution describes how many picture lines (horizontal rows of visual information) the video picture is composed of.
⁵ Video compression refers to reducing the quantity of data used to represent digital video images, and is a combination of spatial image compression and temporal motion compensation. Most video compression is lossy — it operates on the premise that much of the data present before compression is not necessary for achieving good perceptual quality. Uncompressed video files don’t use compression, and are often large files. The fact that no data is lost is one of the requirements for good digital archiving.
⁶ QuickTime is a multimedia framework developed by Apple. It supports a large number of formats for digital video, media clips, sound, text, animation, music and interactive panoramic images. MOV is a special video format for the Quicktime player. It is available for both Mac OS and Windows operating systems.
⁷ The term High Definition (HD) today refers to video formats which have a higher resolution than the Standard Definition (SD). Today, there are two resolutions for HD: 1080 or 720 picture lines.
⁸ HDCAM, introduced in 1997, is an HD version of Digital Betacam, using an 8-bit DCT compressed 3:1:1 recording, in 1080i-compatible downsampled resolution of 1440×1080, and adding 24p and 23.976 PsF modes to later models. The HDCAM codec uses rectangular pixels and as such the recorded 1440×1080 content is upsampled to 1920×1080 on playback. HDCAM SR was introduced in 2003 and standardised in SMPTE 409M-2005. It uses a higher particle density tape and is capable of recording in 10 bits 4:2:2 or 4:4:4 RGB with a video bitrate of 440 Mbit/s, and a total data rate of approx. 600 Mbit/s. (Source: Wikipedia)
⁹ A vectorscope is an oscilloscope that reads chrominance portion of a video signal. (Source: The Bay Area Video Coalition)
¹⁰ The Zurich-based company “Record-Installations” specializes in video documentation of contemporary art and is operating internationally, see: http://www.record-installations.com
¹¹ Adobe Photoshop Lightroom is a photography software program developed by Adobe Systems for Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows, designed to assist professional photographers in managing thousands of digital images and doing post production work. (Source: Wikipedia)
¹² Sharon Hayes was born in 1970 in Baltimore, Maryland and she lives and works in New York. Through her performances, films, and installations, Sharon Hayes examines the intersection of history, politics, and speech, with a particular focus on the language of twentieth-century protest groups. (Source: whitney.org) See http://www.shaze.info
¹³ Pierre Huyghe is a French artist born in 1962 who works in a variety of media from film and video to public interventions. Much of Huyghe's work examines the structural properties of film and its problematic relationship to reality. His work frequently mixes fact with fiction. In several projects, he has delved into the personal lives of subjects and actors in film.