Reconstructing the Forgotten: An Exhibition of 1970s and 1980s Video Installations, Re-staged with Authentic Technology

The author is a conservator working for the interdisciplinary research project AktiveArchive, commissioned by the Swiss Federal Office of Culture to investigate questions relating to the preservation, documentation and accessibility of electronic art and to convey the discoveries to the museum professionals who are involved with Swiss contemporary art collections.

“As part of the Replication Workshop, I would like to introduce one of our major initiatives, an exhibition project that involves the reconstruction and presentation of early Swiss video installations and tapes from the 1970s and 1980s. Our exhibition concept is extraordinary and controversial, because the historic video installations will be installed by means of their authentic technology or – if the original equipment does not exist any more – with equipment from the time of the work’s creation. (...)”

This paper was written as a short discussion document for the ‘Inherent Vice: The Replica and its Implications in Modern Sculpture’ Workshop, held at Tate Modern, 18–19 October 2007.

Read the full text. Language: English.