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    RESEARCHERS BLOG (protected)
    ADMINISTRATION

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    CALL FOR PAPERS: DOCAM Summit 2010

    Keywords: Events, New

    The Fifth DOCAM Summit
    March 3 to 5, 2010

    The DOCAM (Documentation and Conservation of the Media Arts Heritage) Research Alliance invites submissions of abstracts for the presentation of papers at the 2010 DOCAM Summit, which will mark the end of five years of research. DOCAM is an international research alliance initiated by the Daniel Langlois Foundation for Art, Science, and Technology. Its main objective is to develop new methodologies and tools to address the issues of preserving and documenting digital, technological, and electronic works of art.

    The interdisciplinary event aims to bring together artists, researchers, students and museum practitioners (technicians, conservators, curators, etc.) in order to expose and explore the issues raised by current research. We especially welcome papers related to the Alliance’s research areas and to case studies applied to artworks or to tested methodologies. Proposals must expand on at least one of the following three themes:

    1- Documentation of media arts

    Examples:

    • Challenges related to cataloguing new media artworks
    • Artists’ self-documentation and self-archiving practices
    • Documentation of audience experience

    2- Conservation and restoration of media arts

    Examples:

    • Conservation of ephemeral and performative art forms
    • Museum practices adapted to the variability of artworks
    • Transmission of know-how and strategies of preservation
    • Perspective and role of the artist regarding the conservation of his or her works

    3- Education around the conservation and documentation of media arts

    Examples:

    • Needs regarding pedagogical resources
    • Lived experience and practical issues

    The following transversal themes will also be considered:

    • Elaboration of terminological tools
    • Methodologies pertaining to the history of technologies
    • Legal questions and intellectual property in relation to conservation
    • Issues regarding collaborations between artists and technologists

    Proposals must include:

    - a title and a 400-word abstract;
    - a brief statement explaining how the paper fits within the research priorities of DOCAM;
    - the name, affiliation, and e-mail address of the author.

    Submissions in English or French are welcome.

    Please send your proposal by January 3, 2010 to Sophie Le-Phat Ho at slephatho@docam.ca.

    Results will be announced on January 15, 2010. The selected speakers must cover their own travel expenses. For more information about DOCAM and its mandate, please visit http://www.docam.ca/en

    DOCAM is hiring !

    Keywords: New

    As the research project is entering the phase of making its tools accessible to a community of media arts researchers, professionals and practitioners, several job openings are now available to students as part of the DOCAM Alliance. Please note that most positions require that candidates be fluent in French. Please feel free to circulate the following announcements within your networks.

    For students at the MA or PhD level (of all ages), last one available as part of the research funded by SSHRC (Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada):

    Research assistant in documentation computer graphics specialist (in French)
    Employment dates: Beginning of October 2009 (8 weeks duration)
    Application deadline: October 2, 2009

    Special issue of Convergence: “Cultural Memory and Digital Preservation”

    Keywords: Bibliography, New, Publications, Resources

    We are pleased to announce the publication of “Cultural Memory and Digital Preservation,” a special issue of Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, co-edited by William Straw, participating researcher at DOCAM and member of the steering committee, and Jessica Santone, former DOCAM research assistant.

    Vol. 15, no. 3, August, 2009
    Special issue: Cultural Memory and Digital Preservation
    Co-edited by Jessica Santone and Will Straw

    Contents

    Editorial by Jessica Santone and Will Straw (in PDF)

    Articles
    “Towards the Preservation of Local Computer Game Software” by Melanie Swalwell
    “Narrative Convergence, Cross-Sited Productions and the Archival Dilemma” by Marc Ruppel
    “A Sound that Never Sounded” by Pauline Stakelon
    “Between Creation and Preservation: The ANARCHIVE Project” by Bruno Lessard
    “Warring Pixels: Cultural Memory, Digital Testimony, and the Conflict in Iraq” by Nicholas Chare
    “Self-Emulation: Upgrades in New Media Art and the Potential Loss of Narrative” by Caroline Seck Langill
    “Mapping Footprints: A Sonic Walkthrough of Landscapes and Cultures” by Francesca Veronesi and Petra Gemeinboeck

    Film Reviews
    Peter Delpeut (Dir.), Lyrical Nitrate, and Bill Morrison (Dir.), Decasia, reviewed by Gerda J. Cammaer

    Go to the website of Convergence

    June 24-26, Paris: 13th Journées d’études de la SFIIC

    Keywords: Conservation, Events, New, Pedagogical activities

    As part of the 13th edition of the Journées d’études de la SFIIC (Section française de l’Institut international de conservation), researcher Richard Gagnier, Head of Conservation at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and member of the DOCAM Research Alliance (Steering Committee and Conservation/Restoration Committee), will deliver the opening keynote address, on June 24, 2009, as well as a second presentation, on June 26, 2009.

    The 13e journées d’études de la SFIIC will take place at the Institut National du Patrimoine (INP), in Paris, from June 24 to 26, 2009, on the theme of the Conservation and restoration of contemporary works.

    13e journées d’études de la SFIIC
    Art d’aujourd’hui, patrimoine de demain. Conservation et restauration des œuvres contemporaines.

    Presentations by Richard GAGNIER, Head of Conservation at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, MONTRÉAL (Canada):

    Wednesday, 24 June
    Opening Keynote Address
    “Assurer la pérennité de l’œuvre d’art en pensant son intégrité”

    Friday, 26 June (9h-11h)
    Session 5: Photography and new media
    “Présentation de UNEX Sign # 2 de Jenny Holzer : l’émulation d’un composant d’équipement mis à vu”

    The videos of the 2009 DOCAM Seminar are now available

    Keywords: New

    2009 DOCAM Seminar

    2009 DOCAM SEMINAR

    This year, the DOCAM Seminar was held from January 12 to April 20, at Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) and instructed by Dr. Sylvie Lacerte, as part of the joint masters program in museums studies of UQAM and Université de Montréal. The Seminar addresses questions,  challenges and issues related to the documentation and conservation of media arts, which museologists, artists, critics, art historians and theoreticians, as well as teachers and students, have to deal with.

    The Seminar is structured as a series of presentations by guest lecturers, followed by round-table discussions with the students.

    The videos of the presentations of the 2009 Seminar are now available on the DOCAM Seminar page.

    View the 2009 Seminar page

    2009 Seminar: Presentation by Marianne Cloutier

    Keywords: Events, New, Pedagogical activities

    LE BIOART : LES DÉFIS DE SA DOCUMENTATION ET DE SA CONSERVATION :

    * Please note this presentation is in French

    Topics covered are:

    1. Introduction to the concept of bioart
    2. Annie Thibault: Sous l’antre de la chambre stérile (2004)
    3. Eduardo Kac : Genesis (1999), GFP Bunny (2000), The Eight Day (2001)
    4. TC & A (The Tissue Culture & Art Project) : Disembodied Cuisine (2001), Semi-living Worry Dolls (2000)
    5. Bioart and controversy : Steve Kurtz and the Critical Art Ensemble
    6. Conclusion : Reactions to the artworks and the future of their acquisition

    Marianne Cloutier, PhD Candidate in Art History, UQAM, and research assistant for the Pedagogical Committee, DOCAM Research Alliance

    Marianne Cloutier

    This presentation was given on April 17, 2009 as part of the DOCAM Seminar, directed this year by Sylvie Lacerte at l’Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM).

    The Seminar, entitled Documentation and conservation of the media arts heritage, will span from January 12 to April 20, 2009, and aims to help students acquire the tools they need to face the challenges related to the documentation and conservation of technology based artworks.

    2009 DOCAM Seminar: Presentation by Sylvie Lacerte

    Keywords: Events, New, Pedagogical activities

    LE COMMISSARIAT D’EXPOSITION EN ARTS MÉDIATIQUES :

    * Please note this presentation is in French

    Topics covered are:

    1. Introduction
    2. History of Media Arts: From Laszlo Moholy-Nagy to Les Immatériaux, an exhibition curated by Jean-Francois Lyotard
    3. e-art at the Montréal Museum of Fine arts (2007)
    4. La Médiation du Conflit, an exhibition curated by Sylvie Lacerte

    Sylvie Lacerte, curator and independent researcher

    Sylvie Lacerte

    This presentation was given on March 16, 2009 as part of the DOCAM Seminar, directed this year by Sylvie Lacerte at l’Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM).

    The Seminar, entitled Documentation and conservation of the media arts heritage, will span from January 12 to April 20, 2009, and aims to help students acquire the tools they need to face the challenges related to the documentation and conservation of technology based artworks.

    2009 DOCAM Seminar: Presentation by Alain Depocas

    Keywords: Conservation, Events, New, Pedagogical activities

    L’INITIATIVE DES MÉDIAS VARIABLES

    * Please note this presentation is in French

    Topics covered are:

    1. Introduction to the Variable Media Network : principal researchers, CR+D center, artwork example: Net Flag, Mark Napier (2002)
    2. Principal objectives and accomplishments of the Variable Media Network: conservation strategies, description of artworks independently of their medium, and demonstration of the Variable Media Network questionnaire
    3. Case study examples: The Erl King, Grahame Weinbren and Roberta Friedman (1982-85), Seeing double exhibition, at the New York Guggenheim museum (2004)

    Go to the Variable Media Network website

    Alain Depocas, Director of the DOCAM Research Alliance, Daniel Langlois Foundation for Art, Science, and Technology

    Alain Depocas

    This presentation was given on April 6, 2009 as part of the DOCAM Seminar, directed this year by Sylvie Lacerte at l’Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM).

    The Seminar, entitled Documentation and conservation of the media arts heritage, will span from January 12 to April 20, 2009, and aims to help students acquire the tools they need to face the challenges related to the documentation and conservation of technology based artworks.

    Conference : Annual ACFAS Congress (Association francophone pour le savoir)

    Keywords: Events, New

    DOCAM researcher Richard Gagnier (Steering committee and Conservation/Preservation committee) will be speaking at the next Annual ACFAS Congress. His presentation will be part of session 327 – Recyclage et réactualisation : comment l’Art contemporain produit des phénomènes de reprise et de réexposition, chaired by Marie Fraser.

    The 77th Annual ACFAS Congress will take place from May 11 to 15, 2009, at the University of Ottawa.

    Thursday, May 14, 2009
    Session 327 - Recyclage et réactualisation : comment l’Art contemporain produit des phénomènes de reprise et de réexposition
    16:30
    L’obsolescence des technologies et les entorses à l’intégrité de l’oeuvre d’art à très long terme
    Richard Gagnier    , Montréal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA)

    Read the abstract (in French only)

    View ACFAS’ website

    2009 DOCAM Seminar : Presentation by Grégory Chatonsky

    Keywords: Conservation, Events, New, Pedagogical activities

    GRÉGORY CHATONSKY :

    * Please note this presentation is in French

    Topics covered are :

    1. The ideology of memory: Inscription and technological integrity
    2. The perishable computer memory: Materiality and the paradox of binary information
    3. The memory of anonymous subjects: Database, everyone’s inscriptions, and mash-ups (ex : Sous terre, 2000, Lost life, 2007, and My life is an interactive fiction, 2009)
    4. The distribution of memory: Instability and instructions for use (ex : The State of the World, 2008, Dance with me (2007)
    5. Conservation of software and hardware archives: The future of museums, challenges for DOCAM, and the limits of the object
    6. The disruption of the cultural network: Self-archiving and distribution by the artists, the curator’s role, and the emerging of self-sufficient spaces
    7. Conclusion : What is the future of history?: The memory of the spectator as third memory (ex : Pierre Huyghe and Jim Campbell)

    Grégory Chatonsky, artist and guest lecturer (UQAM)

    Grégory Chatonsky

    This presentation was given on March 30, 2009 as part of the DOCAM Seminar, directed this year by Sylvie Lacerte at l’Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM).

    The Seminar, entitled Documentation and conservation of the media arts heritage, will span from January 12 to April 20, 2009, and aims to help students acquire the tools they need to face the challenges related to the documentation and conservation of technology based artworks.

    Techwatch- March 2009 update

    Keywords: New, Pedagogical activities, Techwatch

    Here are the datasheets added to DOCAM’s Techwatch since February 2009:

    DOCUMENTS:

    EVENTS:

    RESEARCH PROJECTS:

    2009 DOCAM Seminar: Presentation by Richard Gagnier

    Keywords: Cataloguing, Conservation, DOCAM Project, Documentation, Events, New, Pedagogical activities, Resources, Terminology

    VISITE AU LABORATOIRE DU MUSÉE DES BEAUX-ARTS DE MONTRÉAL (MBAM) (A visit to the Montréal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA) laboratory):

    * Please note this presentation is in French

    Topics covered are:

    • Life of the artworks in the institution: Royal Canadian Mounted Police (1989), Nam June Paik, and La minute de vérité, Daniel Dion
    • Emulation, migration, and variability of the works: Slide Length, Michael Snow, I want you to feel the way I do, Jana Sterbak
    • Acquisition process: Media Matters, Kramlich collection

    Richard Gagnier, Head of the Conservation Department (MMFA)

    Richard Gagnier

    This presentation was given on March 9, 2009 as part of the DOCAM Seminar, directed this year by Sylvie Lacerte at l’Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM).

    The Seminar, entitled Documentation and conservation of the media arts heritage, will span from January 12 to April 20, 2009, and aims to help students acquire the tools they need to face the challenges related to the documentation and conservation of technology based artworks.

    2009 DOCAM Seminar: Presentation by Vincent Bonin

    Keywords: Cataloguing, New, Pedagogical activities, Resources

    LES ARCHIVES D’ARTISTES : ENTRE L’ÉCONOMIE DU DON ET LE MARCHÉ DE L’ART
    * Please note this presentation is in French

    Vincent Bonin, archivist and independent curator

    Upgrade your Flash Player

    This presentation was given on January 19, 2009 as part of the DOCAM Seminar, directed this year by Sylvie Lacerte at l’Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM).

    The Seminar, entitled Documentation and conservation of the media arts heritage, will span from January 12 to April 20, 2009, and aims to help students acquire the tools they need to face the challenges related to the documentation and conservation of technology based artworks.

    Launch of the new issue of art press 2 produced in collaboration with DOCAM

    Keywords: Events, New, Publications

    We are proud to announce that the new issue of art press 2, produced in collaboration with DOCAM, is now available!

    art-press-22

    ART PRESS 2
    CONSERVING TECHNOLOGY-BASED ART: ISSUES AND SOLUTIONS
    (n° 12, February-March-April 2009)
    Bilingual (French / English)

    See the Table of Contents

    A launch event will take place on March 4, 2009, from 5 to 7 p.m., at the SBC Gallery of Contemporary Art (372 Ste-Catherine West, suite 507, Montréal). During the evening, Alain Depocas and Jean Gagnon will present the content of art press 2′s most recent issue, which includes several articles by DOCAM researchers and collaborators. All are welcome.

    Following the presentations, all will be invited to visit the current exhibition of media artist Antoni Muntadas (New York / Barcelona), MUNTADAS. The Construction of Fear, on view at the SBC Gallery from February 28 to April 18, 2009.

    <b>Alain Depocas, director of the DOCAM Research Alliance, introducing the new <i>art press 2</i> issue, on March 4, 2009, at the SBC Gallery.</b>

    Alain Depocas, Director of the DOCAM Research Alliance, introducing the new art press 2 issue, on March 4, 2009, at the SBC Galery. (Background: MUNTADAS. The Construction of Fear, by Antoni Muntadas)

    View the press release in  PDF / html

    Go to the art press website

    Go to the SBC Gallery of Contemporary Art website

    2009 DOCAM Seminar: Presentation by Anne-Marie Zeppetelli

    Keywords: Cataloguing, New, Pedagogical activities, Resources

    DOCUMENTATION ET CATALOGAGE DES OEUVRES À COMPOSANTES TECHNOLOGIQUES AU MACM, ET ÉTUDES DE CAS EN CATALOGAGE POUR DOCAM
    * Please note this presentation is in French

    Anne-Marie Zeppetelli, archivist and registrar, Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal (MACM)

    Obtenez le lecteur Flash

    This presentation was given on January 19, 2009 as part of the DOCAM Seminar, directed this year by Sylvie Lacerte at l’Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM).

    The Seminar, entitled Documentation and conservation of the media arts heritage, will span from January 12 to April 20, 2009, and aims to help students acquire the tools they need to face the challenges related to the documentation and conservation of technology based artworks.

    Techwatch – February 2009 update

    Keywords: New, Techwatch

    Here are the datasheets added to DOCAM’s Techwatch since December 2008:

    DOCUMENTS :

    EVENTS :

    RESEARCH PROJECTS :

    New publications: Leonardo journal

    Keywords: New, Publications, Researchers, Resources

    We are proud to announce that two articles written by DOCAM researchers have been recently published by the prestigious art, science and technology journal Leonardo.

    2009 DOCAM Seminar: Presentation by Louise Poissant

    Keywords: Conservation, New, Pedagogical activities, Resources

    CONSIDÉRATIONS ÉTHIQUES SUR LA CONSERVATION DES ARTS MÉDIATIQUES
    * Please note this presentation is in French

    Louise Poissant, Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM), and Director of le Groupe de recherche en arts médiatiques (GRAM)

    Upgrade your Flash Player

    This presentation was given on January 19, 2009 as part of the DOCAM Seminar, directed this year by Sylvie Lacerte at l’Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM).

    The Seminar, entitled Documentation and conservation of the media arts heritage, will span from January 12 to April 20, 2009, and aims to help students acquire the tools they need to face the challenges related to the documentation and conservation of technology based artworks.

    The videos of the 2008 DOCAM Annual Summit are now available

    Keywords: New

    ata-sm3

    2008 DOCAM ANNUAL SUMMIT

    This year, DOCAM’s fourth international Summit took place on October 30 and 31, at McGill University. During this two-day conference, audience members had the opportunity to learn about the progress of DOCAM’s research and to meet distinguished speakers among whom was renowned media artist Antoni Muntadas.

    The videos of the presentations of the 2008 Annual Summit are now available on the DOCAM Summit page. With this resource, you will have access to more than 25 lectures, question periods, and special presentations, each including abstracts of the presentations and biographies of the participants in English.

    View the 2008 Summit page

    2009 DOCAM Seminar : Course description now available

    Keywords: New, Pedagogical activities

    MSL652B Group 10 – Documentation and conservation of the media arts heritage

    The DOCAM Seminar will take place this year under the direction of Sylvie Lacerte, starting January 12 until April 20, 2009, at l’Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM).

    The Seminar, entitled Documentation and conservation of the new media arts heritage, is primarily made for masters and doctoral students from the fields of visual and media arts, art history, art conservation, communication studies, museum studies, or library studies.

    This seminar aims to facilitate the development of theoretical, methodological and practical tools amongst students wishing to analyze questions pertaining to the documentation and preservation of technology-based artworks as well as to further their understanding of the challenges faced by museums today.

    While the majority of the lectures will take place in French, this seminar is an inter-university course, and students are encouraged to use the language of their choice.

    To register, you must get in touch with the museum studies assistant, Mrs. Lise Jarry at: jarry.lise@uqam.ca

    If you are not a student at UQAM, please register with your own registrar via the CRÉPUQ.

    Read the 2009 DOCAM Seminar syllabus (in French).

    DOCAM at the CMA National Conference 2009

    Keywords: Conservation, DOCAM Project, Documentation, Events, New, Researchers

    This year, the 62nd annual CMA Conference will take place from the 25th to the 28th of March in Toronto.
    A team of DOCAM researchers will hold an educational session on the day of Thursday, March 26th. We are proud to introduce the DOCAM team and a summary of the themes they will debate.

    Media Art Challenges: University and Museum Training for Current and Future Museologists
    Museologists are facing new challenges with the acquisition, documentation, exhibition, and preservation of media art. In this session, specialists in the field will present innovative case studies on art with technological components. Issues addressed include technological obsolescence, integrity and authenticity of works, ephemerality versus preservation, written agreements with artists, ownership of intellectual property (copyright and moral right), and artists’ intentions and their collaborations with museums. New management techniques will be explored. Presentations will be followed by a question and answer period.

    Moderator:
    Madeleine Lafaille, Heritage Information Analyst, Canadian Heritage Information Network

    Speakers:
    Sylvie Lacerte, Independent researcher & curator, Course lecturer at Université du Québec à Montréal and McGill University
    University training in media art

    Anne-Marie Zeppetelli, Registrar, Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal
    Museum training in the cataloguing and preserving of media art

    Rina Pantalony, Department of Justice, Canada and adjunct faculty, Tisch School of the Arts, New York University
    Guidance in the management of intellectual property

    Elaine Tolmatch, Grants Co-ordinator for Government and Foundation Giving, The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts
    Reaching out to museum professionals and the general public

    Please note that it will be possible to make travel arrangements directly through the Conference’s website:
    http://www.museums.ca/

    For more information or to view the Annual Conference’s complete program, please visit the CMA website.

    Techwatch – November 2008 Update

    Keywords: Techwatch

    Here are the datasheets recently added to DOCAM’s Techwatch:

    Documents:

    Events:

    2008 DOCAM Seminar: Publication of Student Essays

    Keywords: New, Pedagogical activities, Publications

    We are pleased to announce the publication of four student essays submitted during the course of the Winter 2008 graduate seminar “Documentation and Conservation of Media Artworks”. The seminar was conducted at McGill University under the direction of Dr. Sylvie Lacerte and was sponsored by DOCAM and the fondation Daniel Langlois pour l’art, la science et la technologie.

    Sonja Brooks (Art History, McGill University)
    Janet Cardiff’s Forty Part Motet: Preserving the Idea of a Reproducible Sound Experience

    Anik Laflamme (École de bibliothéconomie et des sciences de l’information, Université de Montréal)
    DOCAM Case Study: Corps Pédagogique by Manon De Pauw

    Paulina Mickiewicz (Communication Studies, McGill University)
    Medium vs. Message: Another Way of Understanding the Preservation of Media Art

    Dina Vescio (Art History, Concordia University)
    Assembling the Archival Document: A Case Study of David Rokeby’s Seen

    The essays are available in English only.

    Read the essays.

    The next DOCAM Seminar will take place at UQAM during the Winter 2009 Term. Admission is open to all university students enrolled in Masters and Doctoral programs.
    Keep posted, further information will be available soon.

    The program of DOCAM’s Summit 2008 is now available

    Keywords: New

    2008 International DOCAM Summit

    This year, DOCAM’s fourth International Summit will be held on October 30 and 31, at McGill University. During this two-day conference, which will be held at the Tanna Schulich Hall of the New Music Building, audience members will have the opportunity to learn about the progress of DOCAM’s research and to meet distinguished speakers among whom will be renowned media artist Antoni Muntadas. Please note that registration is not required and that admission is free.

    For the first time, the Summit will be preceded by a Symposium co-presented by DOCAM and Media@McGill, entitled Media in Motion, on October 29, in conference rooms 832/833 of the New Music Building, at McGill University. Admission is free but if you wish to attend the Symposium, please register by email with Marilyn Terzic at the following address : docam.symposium@mac.com

    View the Summit’s program here.

    View the Symposium’s program here.

    Conference: Library, Archives and Museum Collections: Research and Conservation

    Keywords: New

    DOCAM researcher Barbara Klempan (Steering committee and Conservation/Preservation committee) will be speaking at a conference entitled “Library, Archives and Museum Collections: Research and Conservation” at Nicolaus Copernicus University, in Torun (Poland). Chaired by Dr Elżbieta Jabłońska and co-chaired by Dr Małgorzata Pronobis-Bobowska and Dr Halina Rosa, the conference will take place from October 2 to 4, 2008.

    Teaching Art Conservation in a World of Emerging Technologies
    Barbara Klempan, Associate Professor, Art Conservation Program, Queen’s University (Kingston, Ontario)

    Read the abstract.

    Cataloguing Committee – Methodological Report Now Available

    Keywords: Cataloguing, New

    The methodological report written by research assistant Marie-Ève Courchesne, as part of the cataloguing committee’s three new case studies (Générique by Alexandre Castonguay, The Table: Childhood by Max Dean and Raffaello D’Andrea and Unex Sign No.2 by Jenny Holzer) at the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal and the National Gallery of Canada, is now available in English.

    Read the methodological report

    Read the methodological report (in French)

    Call for Papers – Media in Motion

    Keywords: Events, New, Pedagogical activities

    MEDIA IN MOTION
    The Challenge of Preservation in the Digital Age

    October 29, 2008

    McGill University
    Montreal, Quebec
    Canada

    The DOCAM (Documentation and Conservation of the Media Arts Heritage) Research Alliance and Media@McGill invite submissions of abstracts for the presentation of papers at the inaugural Media in Motion Symposium. The interdisciplinary event aims to bring together graduate students across the sciences, humanities, and social sciences in order to explore the many facets of media art preservation. To that end, submissions related to the conference theme, ”The Challenge of Preservation in the Digital Age,” are strongly encouraged. Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

    - Archival Practices
    - Challenges of Audio, Film, Video, and Digital Media Preservation
    - Cultural Influences, Impacts, and Considerations
    - Cultural Property Law
    - Digital Preservation and Cultural Memory
    - Digitization of the Humanities
    - Effects on Artistic Practices
    - Ethical, Social, and Philosophical Concerns
    - Preservation Strategies and Techniques
    - Future Trends and Directions

    As the symposium will be held in conjunction with the Annual International DOCAM Summit (on October 30-31, 2008, at McGill University), preference will be given to proposals that address issues related to the alliance’s activities. For more information on DOCAM and its mandate, please visit <http://www.docam.ca/en>.

    All presented papers will be considered for publication in an edited volume of the proceedings. Additional information will be provided upon acceptance.

    Proposals should include a title; the name, affiliation, and e-mail address of the author; an abstract of 300 words; and a brief statement explaining how the paper fits within the research priorities of DOCAM. Submissions in English or French are welcome. Please send proposals by May 31, 2008 to Marilyn Terzic at docam.symposium@mac.com.

    DOCAM is an international research alliance on the documentation and the conservation of the media arts heritage, initiated by the Daniel Langlois Foundation for Art, Science, and Technology. Its main objective is to develop new methodologies and tools to address the issues of preserving and documenting digital, technological, and electronic works of art.

    Media@McGill is a hub of research, scholarship, and public outreach on issues and controversies in media, technology, and culture. Based in the Department of Art History and Communication Studies at McGill University, Media@McGill is supported by a range of sources, most notably a generous gift from the Beaverbrook Canadian Foundation. For more information, please visit <http://media.mcgill.ca>.

    DOCAM Seminar 2008: Video Presentation – Alexandre Castonguay & Mathieu Bouchard

    Keywords: New, Pedagogical activities

    During DOCAM’s 2008 seminar, selected guests came to speak to students about various issues facing the preservation of new media art.

    - Alexandre Castonguay & Mathieu Bouchard, A collaboration Artist/Programmer, March 31, 2008.

    Alexandre Castonguay & Mathieu Bouchard

    Alexandre Castonguay & Mathieu Bouchard 1/2: Introduction, A collaboration Artist/Programmer

    Alexandre Castonguay & Mathieu Bouchard 2/2: A collaboration Artist/Programmer

    DOCAM Seminar 2008: Video Presentation – Anne-Marie Zeppetelli

    Keywords: New, Pedagogical activities

    During DOCAM’s 2008 seminar, selected guests came to speak to students about various issues facing the preservation of new media art.

    - Anne-Marie Zeppetelli, Cataloguing case studies at the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal, March 17, 2008.

    Anne-Marie Zeppetelli

    Anne-Marie Zeppetelli 1/3: Introduction, Cataloguing case studies at the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal
    Anne-Marie Zeppetelli 2/3: Cataloguing case studies at the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal
    Anne-Marie Zeppetelli 3/3: Cataloguing case studies at the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal

    DOCAM presents @ Museums and the Web 2008

    Keywords: Cataloguing, Conservation, Events, New

    DOCAM researchers will be presenting their work within both the cataloguing and conservation committees on Thursday April 10, 2008, at Museum and the Web 2008 (April 9-12), an international conference for culture and heritage online, in Montreal.

    New Media Art in Museum Collections: A Report from the DOCAM Cataloguing and Conservation Committees

    Richard Gagnier (The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts), Madeleine Lafaille (Canadian Heritage Information Network), Elaine Tolmatch (The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts), Anne-Marie Zeppetelli (Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal)

    Abstract:

    New challenges concerning the acquisition, exhibition and preservation of media art in museum collections have recently surfaced. These challenges have given rise to an important study led by the DOCAM Research Alliance (Documentation and Conservation of the Media Arts Heritage). Established in 2004, this initiative is a SSHRC funded research project spearheaded by the Daniel Langlois Foundation and the Canadian Heritage Information Network. This paper presents a number of DOCAM case study findings on new media works by the research teams at the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.

    Conclusions drawn from a survey of new media cataloguing practices in some North American, European and Australian institutions are also discussed. Museum cataloguing methods and conservation strategies are identified. Finally, the importance of protecting our new media heritage for the future is emphasized. Participants will benefit from the research findings and will learn how the Web is used to bring together vast quantities of resources on new media, including the DOCAM Web site.

    Keywords: media art, cataloguing, conservation, case studies, museum collections, research alliance, DOCAM

    For the complete article, visit: http://www.archimuse.com/mw2008/papers/gagnier/gagnier.html

    New content – Methodological review, cataloguing committee (in French)

    Keywords: Cataloguing, New

    Here is the methodological review written by Marie-Ève Courchesne about her work at the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal, as part of the cataloguing committee’s research.

    Read the methodological review

    DOCAM Seminar 2008: Presentation – Richard Gagnier

    Keywords: New, Pedagogical activities

    During DOCAM’s 2008 seminar, selected guests came to speak to students about various issues facing the preservation of new media art.

    - Richard Gagnier, Chief Conservator, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, March 20, 2008.

    Richard Gagnier welcomed students of the DOCAM Seminar to the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts’ Conservation Department. As part of that visit, he spoke about the issues related to the conservation of works of new media art, such as the ones produced by Daniel Dion, Nam June Paik and Jacques Perron.

    Richard Gagnier Richard Gagnier en compagnie des commissaires Hans D. Christ et Iris Dressler Émilie Boudrias, assistante de recherche de Richard Gagnier

    1st picture: Richard Gagnier
    2nd picture: Richard Gagnier with visiting curators Hans D. Christ and Iris Dressler, also co-directors of the Wuerttembergischer Kunstverein (WKV) in Stuttgart, Germany
    3rd picture: Émilie Boudrias, Richard Gagnier’s Research Assistant

    Techwatch – Update

    Keywords: New, Techwatch

    Here are the datasheets recently added to DOCAM’s Techwatch:

    Events

    Documents

    Research Projects

    DOCAM Seminar 2008: Video Presentation – Sylvie Lacerte

    Keywords: New, Pedagogical activities

    During DOCAM’s 2008 seminar, selected guests came to speak to students about various issues facing the preservation of new media art.

    - Sylvie Lacerte, Historiography and theory of documentation and conservation of media art, February 4, 2008.

    lacerte.jpg

    Sylvie Lacerte, 1/3: Introduction; 9 Evenings and Experiments in Art and Technology; Alfons Schiling’s footage of the 9 Evenings Event; Pamela Lee’s concept of Chronophobia; “Abridgement of fact is abridgement of history”.
    Sylvie Lacerte, 2/3: “A documentary or an archival fonds does not necessarily allow for a narrative, but are traces of this narrative. Nevertheless, these traces are of utmost importance to start filling the blanks of a narrative that would have been constituted entirely on second hand testimonies or documents”; The preservation of the E.A.T.’s archive; Pamela Lee’s essay Chronophobia; the “aura” of the artwork; the authorship; the curator’s role in contemporary art.
    Sylvie Lacerte, 3/3: 9 Evenings: Theatre and Engineering and E.A.T.; the failure as a part of the process.

    DOCAM Seminar 2008: Presentation – Vincent Bonin

    Keywords: New, Pedagogical activities

    During DOCAM’s 2008 seminar, selected guests came to speak to students about various issues facing the preservation of new media art.

    - Vincent Bonin, Archiving media art, March 3, 2008.

    Archives of art: “Documents (visual, textual) that reflect the actions of the artist’s creative expression and his or her identity as an artist, including correspondence, diaries, records of sales, lectures, interviews, and reference photographs both of his or her art and of other inspiring images : documents concerning the personal and institutional consumptions of art, including the records of a museum’s registrar, loan and gift agreements, correspondence, sales records (including auction house records), and insurance records of institutions and private individuals, documents concerning the academic and public analyses and casual views of art, including academic lectures, correspondence, and research notes as well as survey forms from museums and membership posters for museums, galleries, and art associations; and the archive’s administrative “metadata” (such as donor files, cataloguing information, and call slips), relating to the archives of art in its keep.”

    The mediators of archives in the art field: The artist/The artist’s family; The archivist; The academic.

    Documents: Pure Text/Non Text; Data (Pure Text)/Matter (Non Text); Token/Type.

    Documentary Protocols 1

    DOCAM Seminar 2008: Video Presentation – Jean Gagnon

    Keywords: New, Pedagogical activities

    During DOCAM’s 2008 seminar, selected guests came to speak to students about various issues facing the preservation of new media art.

    - Jean Gagnon: Curating media art, documenting installation and participation, January 21, 2008.

    gagnon.jpg

    Jean Gagnon, 1/2: Introduction, Curating media art, documenting installation and participation
    Jean Gagnon, 2/2: Curating media art, documenting installation and participation

    Techwatch – Update

    Keywords: New, Techwatch

    Here are the datasheets recently added to DOCAM’s techwatch:
    Documents

    Events

    Research projects

    DOCAM Seminar 2008: Video Presentation – Alain Depocas

    Keywords: New, Pedagogical activities

    During DOCAM’s 2008 seminar, selected guests came to speak to students about various issues facing the preservation of new media art.

    - Alain Depocas, The Variable Media Initiative, January 7, 2008.

    depocas.jpg

    Alain Depocas, 1/2: Introduction to The Variable Media Network; The “Seeing Double” Exhibition; The Variable Media Questionnaire
    Alain Depocas, 2/2: Types of Preservation Strategies (storage, migration, emulation, reinterpretation); The “Permanence Through Change” publication; “The Erl King” – Case Study

      DOCAM and the Goethe-Institut Montréal present a conference by contemporary art curators Hans D. Christ and Iris Dressler

      Keywords: Events, New
      DOCAM and the Goethe-Institut Montréal present a conference by contemporary art curators Hans D. Christ and Iris Dressler
      March 18, 2008, 7:00 p.m.
      Goethe-Institut Montréal
      418 Sherbrooke Street East
      As space is limited, please RSVP

      For Immediate Release
      Montréal, February 28, 2008

      Hans D. Christ       and Iris Dressler, contemporary art curators and co-directors of the Wuerttembergischer Kunstverein (WKV) in Stuttgart, will give a conference on Tuesday, March 18, 2008, at 7:00 p.m. at the Goethe-Institut Montréal. A special event co-organized by the Goethe-Institut Montréal and the DOCAM Research Alliance, the evening will feature a presentation by Hans D. Christ on curating the work of Canadian artist Stan Douglas and a presentation by Iris Dressler on the Kunstverein, a German concept of art spaces. The evening will end with a reception.

      Please note that the conference will be given in English, with a question period in French and English.

      To RSVP, please contact info@montreal.goethe.org or telephone 514-499-0159

      For more information

      Kaisa Tikkanen
      Film programmes
      Goethe-Institut Montréal
      418 Sherbrooke Street East
      Montréal (Québec) Canada H2L 1J6
      Tel.: 514-499-0904
      film@montreal.goethe.org

      In 1996, Hans D. Christ and Iris Dressler founded the Hartware MedienKunstVerein as an independent platform for contemporary art in Dortmund. In 2005, Dressler and Christ became co-directors of the Wuerttembergischer Kunstverein (WKV) in Stuttgart. The primary activities conducted by this curating team address topical questions of curatorial work based on international cooperative initiatives that expand the program’s thematic content and perspectives. Dressler and Christ are also involved in the organization of events such as 404. Object Not Found. What remains of media art?, the international congress on the production, presentation and conservation of media arts held in Dortmund in 2003.

      In 2007, the WKV and the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart presented Stan Douglas, Past Imperfect, Werke 1986-2007, the first comprehensive exhibition by the Canadian artist, which included a range of works from the 1980s to the present. During his talk at the Goethe-Institut, Christ will address the various issues surrounding the set-up of the Past Imperfect exhibition as well as the presentation of the artist’s films within a museum context.

      The public will also be introduced to the Wuerttembergischer Kunstverein (WKV) through the presentation by Iris Dressler. The German Kunstverein is an important local contemporary art institution, usually founded by citizens and composed of individual members, including artists and collectors. About the WKV, Dressler and Christ state, “Our concept for this new profile was oriented to the heterogeneity of contemporary artistic practice as well as to production in the cultural and scientific fields, which today are interrelated at many different levels.”

      The Goethe-Institut Montréal is a German cultural institute that has existed in Montreal since 1962. Its main objective is to facilitate cultural exchange between Germany and Canada and to promote the German language through its language courses.

      DOCAM is an international research alliance on the documentation and the conservation of the media arts heritage, initiated by the Daniel Langlois Foundation for Art, Science and Technology. Its main objective is to develop new methodologies and tools to address the issues of preserving and documenting digital, technological and electronic works of art.

      http://www.docam.ca/
      http://www.goethe.de/montreal/
      http://www.wkv-stuttgart.de/en/
      http://www.goethe.de/kue/bku/kur/kur/ag/dre/

      DOCAM Seminar 2008: Video Presentation – Will Straw

      Keywords: New, Pedagogical activities

      During DOCAM’s 2008 seminar, selected guests came to speak to students about various issues facing the preservation of new media art.

      - Will Straw, History of Technology, January 14, 2008.

      will_straw_seminaire_docam_2008.jpg

      Will Straw, 1/3: Introduction; “Archiving is not where you look for it”.
      Will Straw, 2/3: “The criteria of ‘perfect’ reproduction is not an absolute one”; “The migration of cultural content from one media to another can serve to diminish or to magnify it”;“Every cultural object faces the tension between physical and semiotic decay”.
      Will Straw, 3/3: “Every new media has, as on of its principal effects, the renewed availability of older media content”; “In the preservation of media artworks, is it possible to avoid magnifying or diminishing them?”; “If every media-based art works has, encoded within it, a way of seeing or hearing, is every artwork, at some level, a ‘storage’ device?”; Which works best as means of ensuring the survival of cultural artefacts: their free, uncontrolled circulation in the world (or in the marketplace?), or their controlled preservation in optimum conditions?”.

      Techwatch – Update

      Keywords: New, Techwatch

      Here are the datasheets recently added to DOCAM’s techwatch:

      Documents

      Events

      Research projects

      Mona Jimenez at Queen’s University

      Keywords: Conservation, DOCAM members, New

      2008 Brockington Lecture – Mona Jimenez

      Queen’s University Archives is pleased to support this year’s Brockington Lecture, delivered by Mona Jimenez, Tisch School of Arts, NYU. Her paper, “Vexing Variations: Permanence and the Conservation of Digital Art,” will be presented Thursday, February 7th at 7:00 p.m. in the Chernoff Auditorium.

      The Brockington Lecture is sponsored by the Senate Committee on Creative Arts and Public Lectures and the Principal’s Development Fund.

      Source: http://archives.queensu.ca/news.html#brock

      Techwatch – Update

      Keywords: New, Techwatch

      New entries to DOCAM’s Techwatch include:

      Documents

      Events

      Research projects

      New content – Conference presentations

      Keywords: New

      404_affiche.jpgSylvie Lacerte’s presentations from the following conferences are now available:

      - 404 Object Not Found. Total Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul, South Korea, October 24, 2007, “The DOCAM Project: Issues and challenges” (in PDF).

      - Art contemporain, arts médiatiques et architecture moderne. Les enjeux de la conservation des œuvres fragiles, éphémères et virtuelles. Comment penser leur authenticité matérielle et conceptuelle. Journée d’études organisée par la Faculté des arts de l’UQAM en collaboration avec l’Institut du patrimoine, 23 November 2007, « La pérennité des arts médiatiques : enjeux théoriques et éthiques, défis et embûches. »

      New content – DOCAM Summit 2007 – video presentations available online

      Keywords: New

      hornstein.JPGThe video presentations from the 2007 Summit are available online (in the speakers’ language – French or English).
      They are accessible from the DOCAM Annual Summit 2007 page and from the Resources page.

      Conference: Object in Transition (Getty Center, L.A., Jan. 25-26, 2008)

      Keywords: New

      gettymuseum4.jpgFrom the Getty’s website:

      On January 25 and 26, 2008, the Getty Conservation Institute and the Getty Research Institute will present “The Object in Transition: A Cross Disciplinary Conference on the Preservation and Study of Modern and Contemporary Art,” a major conference at the Getty Center on the conservation of contemporary sculpture, painting, and mixed-media artworks, and the collaborative possibilities for conservators, art historians, and curators working in these fields. This two-day event aims to foster increased dialogue among these fields, primarily via intensive professional dialogues on case studies and general panel discussions. A number of relevant art works are anticipated to be on display, enabling the audience to participate in the discussion of these works.

      Exhibition – Analogue & Digital (Fieldgate Gallery, London UK, 24 Nov – 16 Dec, 2007)

      Keywords: New

      analogue-digital.jpgPresented at the Fieldgate Gallery in London, the exhibition Analogue and Digital presents contemporary digital moving image works (projections, installations and screen-based video) with historical video works from artists working in the UK during the 1970s and 80’s including Robert Cahen, Gary Hill, and Steina and Woody Vasulka (note: the Daniel Langlois Foundation houses the Vasulka archives, please see the following Web resources: Steina and Woody Vasulka Fonds Finding Aids and Video and Computer: The Aesthetics of Steina and Woody Vasulka – by Yvonne Spielmann).

      The exhibition is curated by Chris Meigh-Andrews who is professor of Electronic & Digital Art and director of The Electronic & Digital Art Unit (EDAU) at the University of Central Lancashire.

      Journée d’études (in French) : Les enjeux de la conservation des oeuvres fragiles, éphémères et virtuelles (UQÀM, November 23rd)

      Keywords: New

      uqam-conference.jpg

      Please note that the following conference will be presented in French only.

      - Journée d’études (entrée gratuite) organisée par la Faculté des Arts de l’UQAM, à l’initiative du DESS en architecture moderne et patrimoine de l’École de design et en collaboration avec l’Institut du patrimoine

      - 23 novembre 2007, de 9 à 17 h, salle des Boiseries (J-2805), Université du Québec à Montréal, Pavillon Judith-Jasmin (1455, rue Saint-Denis, Montréal)

      Les enjeux de la conservation des oeuvres fragiles, éphémères et virtuelles. Comment penser leur authencité matérielle et conceptuelle?

      La pérennité de l’art contemporain et des arts médiatiques tout comme celle du patrimoine architectural moderne posent des problèmes semblables du fait de la fragilité de bien des oeuvres, de l’indétermination formelle de certaines, voire de leur nature éphémère, ou de l’obsolescence des technologies. Les matériaux et les dispositifs nouveaux, souvent expérimentaux qui entrent dans leur fabrication, doivent être remplacés car ils sont trop fragiles, ou encore, ils ne sont plus produits. Par ailleurs, le destin passager de certaines a été programmé : pavillon d’exposition à démolir après l’événement, bâtiments transformables suivant l’évolution des usages, composants techniques remplaçables, dans le cas de l’architecture; oeuvres d’art contemporaines à réinstaller, sinon à fabriquer à chaque présentation publique. De telles situations mettent en question une valeur centrale de la conservation : l’authenticité matérielle. Son respect est une exigence inscrite dans les codes de déontologie des professionnels des musées ainsi que dans les chartes qui encadrent les interventions sur le patrimoine bâti.

      La journée d’études vise à confronter expériences de conservation et horizons théoriques autour de la question de l’authenticité matérielle/ conceptuelle des oeuvres d’architecture moderne, d’art contemporain et d’art médiatique. Elle s’inscrit dans le cadre des enseignements et des recherches menées sur le sujet à la Faculté des arts.

      Consulter le programme et le communiqué de presse (veuillez noter que DOCAMiens Sylvie Lacerte et Richard Gagnier participeront à la journée d’études).

      Conference MOBILE / IMMOBILIZED – Art, technologies and (dis)abilities (UQÀM, Oct. 31st – Nov. 3rd)

      Keywords: New

      Presentation

      Following through on the activities that took place within the framework of two colloquia and publications, Interfaces et Sensoralité (Presses de l’Université du Québec, 2003) and Arts et Biotechnologies (Presses de l’Université du Québec, 2004), and based on the work with the persons of disabilities conducted, over several years, by the group at Cyprès in Marseille, we believe it is opportune to provide a site for insightful reflections on questions relating to (dis)abilities. At the intersection of several contemporary art projects, bioscientific research activities and technological innovations, the notion of deficiency seems to be one of the most fertile and troubling forces. It has certainly had a pronounced affect on the experimental art scene, generating an array of creativity and producing spectacular and symbolically-rich artworks.

      At the present time, it is important to evaluate the technological and biotechnological supports that affect conditions of viability, of autonomy and (dis)abilities of human beings and to observe any evolutionary signs signaling an increase in human cognitive, mental, imaginary and symbolic capabilities.

      Conference – Media, Memory and the Archive (Argos, Brussels – Oct 6, 2007)

      Keywords: New

      conference-media-memory.jpg

      On October 6th 2007, Argos, the Brussels-based centre for art and media, will be hosting the conference “Media, Memory and the Archive.” The conference will examine the conservation and archiving strategies being used to transpose technology-based works into an unknown future. Several DOCAM-summit speakers and guests will also be attending this conference, including Richard Rinehart and Jean-François Blanchette.

      This conference is part of the series Open Archive #1 which includes the following conferences:

      • Video Vortex: Responses to YouTube
      • Cinema in Transit: Lecture series
      • Ways of Hearing: Concerts & Lecture
      • Media Matters (DOCAM’s Alain Depocas will be participating in this conference)

      Interview with David Rokeby – Machine for Taking Time

      Keywords: New

      david-rokeby.jpgThroughout 2007, the Conservation and Preservation Committee undertook a case study on the different versions of David Rokeby’s Machine for Taking Time. The original version was commissioned for the Oakville Galleries exhibit “Earthly Delights” (2001). Another more recent version of this work, entitled Machine for Taking Time (Boul. St-Laurent) (2006), was commissioned by Jean Gagnon for the exhibition “Communicating Vessels / e-art” (September 20 – December 8 2007) celebrating ten years of activity from the Daniel Langlois Foundation, presented at The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. The work will be on display in the halls of the Ex-Centris throughout the exhibition.

      Richard Gagnier, president of the Conservation and Preservation Committee, (conservator of contemporary art at the National Gallery of Canada up until August 2007, and presently chief conservator at The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts), and Ariane Noël de Tilly, research assistant for the Committee, conducted this interview with Rokeby on the various aspects of documentation and preservation of the different versions of Machine for Taking Time. The interview is organized into 30 consecutive segments which can be viewed chronologically or independently.

      Access the interview here.

      2007 DOCAM Summit – Program

      Keywords: New

      This year, the third international DOCAM Summit will take place on September 27th at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. Held in the Maxwell-Cummings auditorium, the public conference day will provide an opportunity to hear DOCAM researchers on the advancement of their work, as well as renowned guest speakers, including Vancouver artist Stan Douglas. In addition, on September 28th, the MMFA will be organizing a day-long public conference on the themes of the exhibition Communicating Vessels: New Technologies and Contemporary Art – Ten Years of Accomplishments by the Daniel Langlois Foundation (e-art) (September 20-December 9, 2007).

      hornstein.JPG

      PROGRAM

      Maxwell-Cummings auditorium
      The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Michal & Renata Hornstein pavilion
      1379 Sherbrooke Street West, Montréal

      Entrée libre – Free admission

      Thursday, September 27th, 2007 – Public conference day

      9:00 a.m. Opening of conference: Introduction by Sylvie Lacerte, moderator
      9:05 a.m. Welcome from Jean Gagnon, Executive Director, Daniel Langlois Foundation
      9:10 a.m. Word of welcome from Nathalie Bondil, Director of The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts

      9:15 a.m. Panel: DOCAM Alliance progress report by research committee chairs:
      Alain Depocas, DLF/research director and chair of Documentation Committee;
      Richard Gagnier, NGC/Conservation – Case Studies;
      Louise Poissant, UQAM and Sylvie Lacerte, DLF/Pedagogical Activities;
      Madeleine Lafaille, CHIN and Anne-Marie Zeppetelli, MACM/Cataloguing Structure;

      10:35 a.m. Summary and question period
      10:50 a.m. Break

      11:00 a.m. Panel: Research assistants’ activities and reflections
      Conservation/Restoration: Ainsley Walton, Claudia de Hueck scholar – NGC; Lawrence Bird, McGill – CCA; Guillaume Labelle, U de M; Documentation: Andrea Kuchembuck, DLF; Marie-Catherine Cyr, Queens University – Queen’s Archives; Cataloguing Structure: Émilie Boudrias, UQAM – MACM/MMFA; Terminology: Corina MacDonald, McGill.
      12:20 p.m. Summary and question period

      12:30 p.m. Lunch

      2:15 p.m. Intellectual property and digital art
      Richard Rinehart, Berkeley Museum and Pacific Film Archives & Rina Pantalony, Department of Justice Canada, New York, N.Y.

      3 :00 p.m. Ludwig Boltzmann Institute. Media. Art. Research
      Dieter Daniels, Boltzman Institute, Linz, Austria
      3:30 p.m. Summary and question period
      3:45 p.m. Break

      4:00 p.m. Keynote address: Stan Douglas, artist, Vancouver, BC
      5:00 p.m. Question period
      5:20 p.m. End of conference day

      Press Release (PDF)

      CCA Report – Greg Lynn’s “Embryological House”

      Keywords: New

      lynn.jpg

      Since 2005, DOCAM research alliance partners and researchers from the Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA) have been working on a case study composed of digital files stemming from American architect Greg Lynn’s Embryological House project. These new media files and the physical objects generated from the digital mock-ups are now part of the CCA’s collection. DOCAM’s CCA research assistants Andrea Kuchembuck and Lawrence Bird have drafted a report, which examines the challenges in documenting and preserving digital files pertaining to architecture, as well as the strategies needed to ensure the work’s permanence.

      Techwatch – update

      Keywords: New

      New entries to DOCAM’s Techwatch include:

      Documents

      Research projects

      “The Myth of Immateriality” by Christiane Paul (by J. Pollet)

      Keywords: New, Researchers blog

      in MediaArtHistories
      edited by Olivier Grau
      The MIT Press, 2006, 475 p

      MediaArtHistories, edited by Oliver Grau, seeks to renew the understanding of digital art by placing it against the backdrop of history and studying its relationships with film, cultural and media studies, computer science, philosophy and the study of images .

      In the essay “The Myth of Immateriality : Presenting and Preserving New Medias”, Christiane Paul analyses the inherent challenges that the digital medium poses in terms of presentation and preservation. Paul is the Adjunct Curator of New Media Arts at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, the director of Intelligent Agent – a service organization and information resource dedicated to digital art, and a lecturer in the Computer Arts department at the School of Visual Arts, New York.

      For Paul, immateriality is one of the most challenging characteristics of digital art. Works are often process-oriented and based on software, systems and networks, and thus represent a changing and elusive aspect to the artwork.

      However, this aspect of dematerilization should not make us underestimate the material dimension of these works : they require the medium of hardware or computers to exist. Moreover, many of the problems of presentation and preservation that museums are facing are related to this materiality. How can ugly computers can be shown? How can a constantly evolving medium be preserved?

      Christiane Paul initially shows the specificities of digital art and the ways in which the roles of artists, audiences and curators are changing, and then proposes various models of presentation and preservation. Paul has organized her essay with the following different sections:
      - Characteristics of the Digital Medium : Challenges and Opportunities
      - Collaborative Exchange and the Changing Roles of Artists, Audiences and Curators
      - New media in the Gallery : from Installation to ”Mobile” art
      - Models of Online Presentation
      - Preservation Strategies : From Materiality to Immaterial Process

      This stimulating article deals with preservation issues and offers an interesting perspective by tackling the problem of presentation. It also gives a good overview of the various initiatives being explored in this area.

      Centre Pompidou : Online resources (by J. Pollet)

      Keywords: New, Researchers blog

      Like an increasing number of museum websites, The Centre Pompidou offers access to many online resources including: catalogs, educational tools, and virtual tours. Two resources are of special interest to DOCAM members:

      1) The New Media Encyclopedia – a trilingual catalog (French, English and German) on the new media art collection of the Pompidou, Musée national d’art moderne (Paris), and the Centre pour l’image contemporaine Saint-Gervais Genève (Geneva).

      2) Video recordings of conferences organized by the Pompidou are also available on-line. The “Video et après” series highlighting video art includes conferences by Dan Graham, Pipilotti Rist, Mike Kelley, Vito Acconci, Tania Bruguera and a “Tribute to Nam June Paik”. Most of them are available in French or English and some conferences are streamed live over the Internet. The next date for the “Video et après” series will be on : June 4, 6 PM (France), with Johan Grimonprez.

      Wikipedia entry on “New media art preservation”

      Keywords: New, Researchers blog

      nohat-logo-nowords-bgwhite-200px.jpgCreated in February 2007, Wikipedia now includes an entry on new media art preservation.

      So far, the new media art preservation entry includes contributions by Jon Ippolito (Professor of New Media at the University of Maine, coordinator of the Variable Media Network and former Associate Curator of Media Arts at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum) and an anonymous contributor.

      Thematic sections include:

      • Relationship to other preservation efforts
      • Preservation strategies:
        • Storage
        • Migration
        • Emulation (includes “Seeing Double”: an emulation testbed)
      • Preservation tools
        • Variable Media Questionnaire
      • Metadata standards
        • Media Art Notation System (MANS)
      • History of new media art preservation
      • Individual efforts
      • Consortium efforts
      • References

      DOCAM is included under “Consortium efforts.” We invite all DOCAM researchers and members to contribute to this Wikipedia entry.

      Please note: a French Wikipedia entry on new media art preservation has yet to be created…

      Exhibition – Tagny Duff (DOCAM Seminar student)

      Keywords: DOCAM members, New

      Tagny Duff, a PhD student at Concordia University’s Faculty of Fine Arts and 2007 DOCAM Seminar student, is having one of her works presented in an exhibition “Acting Between | Body, Space, Time” at the FOFA Gallery from May 1 – June 1 2007.

      The FOFA Gallery is organizing an exhibition that will showcase the talents of six alumni of the Faculty from the past five years, including: Diane Borsato, Parasite (with Tagny Duff), Sarah Febbraro, Thoma Kneubuhler, Ana Rewakowicz and Andrea Vander Kooij. The work of these artists recognizes that the body is the centre of all agency in the physical world, whether dealing with its physical placement, interrelations, its absence, limitations or its actions.

      The FOFA Gallery is located at 1455 De Maisonneuve Blvd. W, EV 1-715.

      The exhibition will host a vernissage on May 1 between 6 and 8 p.m. in front of the gallery.

      To see learn more about Tagny Duff’s projects, please consult: http://www.smartbodies.ca/

      Techwatch – Weekly update (April 23 2007)

      Keywords: New

      This week’s new entries to DOCAM’s Techwatch include:

      Research Projects:

      Leonardo: “The Media Art Notation System” (by Richard Rinehart)

      Keywords: New

      We are pleased to announce that you will find an article by Richard Rinehart “The Media Art Notation System: Documenting and Preserving Digital/Media Art” in the special DOCAM section of Leonardo – Journal of the International Society for the Arts, Sciences and Technology (Volume 40, no. 2, 2007, The MIT Press, pp. 181 – 187).

      Richard Rinehart is the Digital Media Director and adjunct Curator at the University of California, Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Archive, and is also a working digital artist.

      To quote the abstract, Rinehart’s essay “proposes a new approach to conceptualizing digital and media art forms. This theoretical approach will be explored through issues raised in the process of creating a formal declarative model (alternately known as metadata framework, notation system or ontology) for digital and media art. The approach presented and explored here is intended to inform a better understanding of media art forms and to provide a practical framework that supports their creation, re-creation, documentation and preservation.”

      You can also find a previous online version of this paper presented at the “Refresh! The First International Conference on the Histories of Media Art, Science and Technology” (28 September – 1 October 2005) at the Banff New Media Institute, Banff, Alberta, Canada.

      Also of note, Leonardo is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year.

      Exhibition: Projections (University of Toronto Art Galleries)

      Keywords: New

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      The University of Toronto’s four major art galleries are currently presenting Projections : A Major survey of projection-based works in the history of contemporary art in Canada from the mid-1960s to the present – one of the very first Canadian exhibition devoted solely to projection-based works.

      Curated by Barbara Fisher and organized by Hart House, the exhibition brings together works involving some form of projection, whether it is in the form of light, slides, film, video or television. Scattered across the four major U of T galleries (Blackwood Gallery, the Doris McCarthy Gallery, the University of Toronto Art Center, and Justina M. Barnicke Gallery), the exhibition includes works by Geneviève Cadieux, Jana Sterbak, Janet Cardiff and George Bures Muller, Rebecca Belmore, Christine Davis, Ian Carr-Harris, David Askevold, Stan Douglas, Murray Favro, Wyn Geleynse, Rodney Graham, David Hoffos, Nestor Krüger, Mark Lewis, Kelly Mark, John Massey, Nathalie Melikian, Judy Radul, Gar Smith, Michael Snow, Robert Wiens, and Krzysztof Wodiczko.

      Richard Gagnier, DOCAM researcher and National Gallery of Canada’s conservator of contemporary art, helped to install some of the works (on loan from the National Gallery) on display.

      On April 20th, Stan Douglas will be giving a lecture at Hart House.

      New content – Video presentation (Seminar 2007) Alexandre Castonguay and Mathieu Bouchard

      Keywords: New

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      Prepared for the DOCAM Seminar 2007, Alexandre Castonguay (artist) et Mathieu Bouchard (programmer) presentation “La collaboration artiste et technologue et l’usage du code Open Source dans la création d’une œuvre numérique” is now available online (in French).

      New content – Video presentation (Seminar 2007): Marie-Christiane Mathieu

      Keywords: New

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      Prepared for the DOCAM Seminar 2007, Marie-Christiane Mathieu’s (artist and director of Studio XX) presentation “L’holographie et l’art réseau : problématiques liées à la conservation et à la documentation” is now available online (in French).

      Techwatch – Weekly update (April 9, 2007)

      Keywords: Techwatch

      This week’s new entries to DOCAM’s Techwatch include:

      Document

      Event

      Research Project

      Techwatch – Weekly update (April 2, 2007)

      Keywords: New, Techwatch

      This week’s new entries to DOCAM’s Techwatch include:

      Document

      Events

      Research Project

      “Inside Installations” archived webcast available & “Inside Installations” Exhibition now showing

      Keywords: New, Researchers blog

      On March 22nd 2007, the Tate broadcast live over the Internet the final Inside Installations : Preservation and Presentation of Installation Art seminar, titled “Shifting practice, shifting roles? Artists’ Installations and the Museum practice”. The one-day conference featured a variety of international speakers (including the Tate’s Pip Laurenson – guest speaker at the DOCAM Summit 2006), and sought to examine the clashes between contemporary art and traditional museum conventions and the evolving roles of the conservator and the curator in response to particular artistic practices.

      Access here the archived video presentations of the final Inside Installations seminar.

      ******

      The second and final Inside Installations: Preservation and Presentation of Installation Art Exhibition is now showing at the Kröller-Muller Museum in Otterlo, Netherlands (March 21, 2007 – June 3, 2007).

      The exhibition shows the problems and questions that a museum is confronted with during registration, conservation, preservation, installation and reinstallation of installation art. Visitors will have the opportunity to see artworks being installed, documented, researched and even treated in the museum.

      Techwatch – Weekly update (March 26 2007)

      Keywords: New, Techwatch

      This week’s new entries to DOCAM’s Techwatch include:

      Documents

      Events

      Research projects

      Error Correcting Optical Media Format (by Matthew Bierderman)

      Keywords: New, Researchers blog

      error-correcting-biederman.jpgThis is worth keeping an eye on. The folks at TrueDisc have launched an error correcting optical disc format, so far supporting CD-R and DVD-R. This means that if a part of the disc physically fails, due to a scratch or manufacturing defect, the disc takes care of itself to an extent. It does this by interleaving the redundant data as it actually burns the information to disc. Of course this reduces the amount of data you can fit on a disc – 600MB for a CD-R and 4.GB for a DVD-R. One of the things to fear about this of course is that you might be locked into another proprietary format. However, after a couple of emails to the author of this, he did let me know that he’ll be releasing the code in order to open it up, so at least this shouldnt be as much of an issue. Currently you need a reader (free) to access the discs. Once it’s open I think this might be worth investigating.

      More info here.

      Techwatch – Weekly update (March 19 2007)

      Keywords: New, Techwatch

      This week’s new entries to DOCAM’s Techwatch include:

      Documents

      Events

      Research Projects

      YouTube & New Media Art (by Raphaëlle Aubin)

      Keywords: New, Researchers blog

      Believe it or not, YouTube does not exist just to watch silly and entertaining videos. YouTube has a decent collection of short videos documenting and screening new media artworks, including videos and installation art (note: I am not going to delve into copyright issues…).A quick search on YouTube yielded videos from the following artists: Janet Cardiff’s Forty-Part Motet, Nam June Paik, Marina Abramovic, Pipilotti Rist, Bas Jan Ader, and Bill Viola.

      Like “proper” YouTube content, videos vary in quality. YouTube is entirely based on user-generated content (users can upload, view and share videos). For more varied results, you can also discover videos by accessing the accounts of users whom have posted videos that you are interested in, as well as you can access related videos through the tags (appear to the right of the video) and categories assigned to videos.

      PDP-1 Restoration Project (by Alain Depocas)

      Keywords: New, Researchers blog

      (This article is only available in French)

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      Le Computer History Museum a mis en ligne une très riche documentation portant sur la restauration de l’ordinateur DEC PDP-1 de 1959. Le site comporte de nombreux dossiers, documents techniques d’origine, listes de composants, entrevues avec les acteurs de la restauration, documents sur les applications du PDP-1, logbook de l’équipe de restauration, etc. Bien qu’éloigné des principales préoccupations de DOCAM, ce site Web n’en regorge pas moins de modèles et d’inspiration pour nos futures mises en lignes de rapports d’études de cas.
      PDP-1 Restoration Project

      New content – Video presentation (Seminar 2007) – Sylvie Lacerte and Vincent Bonin

      Keywords: New

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      Prepared for the DOCAM Seminar 2007, Sylvie Lacerte (DOCAM Seminar instructor and DOCAM coordinator) and Vincent Bonin’s (archivist with the Daniel Langlois Foundation) presentation “Historique du mariage Art et technologies et l’utilisation de documents d’archives; Deux cas de figure: Experiments in Art and Technology et le fonds Sonia Sheridan” is now available online (in French).

      New content – Annotated Bibliography on the preservation of new media (Jessica Santone)

      Keywords: New

      Developed in October 2005, Jessica Santone’s (a McGill University research assistant) bibliography on the preservation of new media is now available in the Resources section of the website. The bibliography is divided into the following categories :

      New content – DOCAM Summit 2006 – video presentations available online

      Keywords: New

      The video presentations from the 2006 Summit are available online.

    • Presentations from DOCAM researchers, including:
    • Presentations from invited guest speakers, including:
      •