Accueil SÉMINAIRES Séminaire 2006

Séminaire 2006 : "Preservation of New Media"

Le séminaire Preservation of New Media, offert par le professeur William Straw de l’Université McGill s'est déroulé du 10 janvier au 11 avril 2006 au Centre de Recherche et de Documentation (CR+D) de la fondation Daniel Langlois pour l’art, la science et la technologie.

 

Vous trouverez ci-dessous :

Le curriculum du cours

Les présentations vidéos de deux intervenantes

Les essais des étudiants

 

*Il est à noter que tous les textes et les présentations sont en anglais, le séminaire était dispensé sous l’égide de l’Université McGill.

 

Curriculum du cours / Course description

The Preservation of New Media (La conservation des nouveaux médias)

Seminar instructor/Titulaire du séminaire: Dr. Will Straw (Université McGill).
Course Assistant/Auxiliare du cours: Jessica Santone

Technology history assistant/Auxiliaire pour l’histoire des technologies: Marilyn Terzic

Lire la suite : Curriculum du cours / Course description

 

“Variable Media: Case Study from the Guggenheim Museum”

17 janvier 2006

Caitlin Jones, Guggenheim Museum, New York

* Veuillez noter que cette présentation est en anglais.
Caitlin Jones © DOCAM 2006

Lire la suite : “Variable Media: Case Study from the Guggenheim Museum”

 

"The Artist's Perspective"

28 mars 2006

Marie-Christiane Mathieu, artiste

* Veuillez noter que cette présentation est en anglais.
Marie-Christiane Mathieu
© DOCAM 2009

Lire la suite : "The Artist's Perspective"

 

Student essays / Essais des étudiants

The texts assembled here reflect a sampling of the issues discussed in the Winter 2006 graduate seminar, “Preserving New Media Art,” offered by McGill University under the direction of Dr. William Straw, and with the sponsorship of DOCAM and La Fondation Daniel Langlois pour l’art, la science et la technologie....

 

Students in the seminar were introduced to the challenges facing curators, collectors, archivists, and artists who have the preservation of new media art. Such challenges include:

- creating a collaborative preservation strategy that brings together artists, museum professionals, and technicians,
- understanding what is at stake in or what is essential to the experience of the art “object” when that object is a network, performance, or other ephemeral activity, -coping with the evolving memory or use of an artwork over time,
- evaluating the roles and importance of technologies, contexts, activities, and authorial intentions to works of new media art, and
- devising plans and strategies to meet the eventual obsolescence of technologies used to create new media art.

 

Preservation is a heterogeneous affair, involving the collaborative participation of a host of individuals and institutions. This is particularly true for new media art, the preservation of which requires a diverse range of skills, aptitudes, and concerns. Developing strategies for preservation of new media means taking into account the needs of artists, audiences, and art institutions. It also involves learning more about the histories and uses of technologies used in new media art practices.

 

Focusing on theory, history, or art practice, each of these papers addresses some aspect(s) of the issues above and raises other, related concerns about new media arts and their preservation. Through the continued production of studies like these, DOCAM hopes to increase the domain of knowledge about new media art works and associated preservation strategies.

 

I. Theoretical Meditations on Preservation and Older Media

 

"Electronic arts unplugged: Museum politics and the preservation of New Media" Didier Delmas

This paper argues that the process of preserving contemporary art needs to be situated in the context of the political economy of 21st-century museums. I review some of the taken-for-granted concepts that have directed the preservation of traditional-media art since the beginning of the 20th century. Those concepts include “authenticity,” “integrity,” and “artist’s intent.” Finally I advocate conservation strategies that take greater account of the public’s participation.

Lire la suite : "Electronic arts unplugged: Museum politics and the preservation of New Media" Didier Delmas

 

"The Politics of Small: Strategies and Considerations in Zine Preservation" Anna Leventhal

As the “zine boom” of the early 1990’s recedes further and further into history, and public interest in zines becomes increasingly institutionalized, the question of zine preservation arises. Just as a preservation strategy for a new media artwork must take into account not only the work’s material components but some notion of what constitutes the artwork itself (that is to say, some attempt to theorize the work’s “meaning” and how best to conserve it), zine preservation is not only a matter of holding onto the paper, toner and binding that make up the majority of zines, but to consider issues of access, circulation, and institutionalization with regard to keeping the work viable. This study considers some of the strategies involved in preserving zines, and how these strategies contribute to a working definition of that category itself.

Lire la suite : "The Politics of Small: Strategies and Considerations in Zine Preservation" Anna Leventhal

 

II. Preserving the Personal

 

"“Archiving the Vibe”: Ethnographic Strategies for Archiving New Media Art" Bernadette Houde

This paper suggests a strategy for the preservation of not only new media artworks, but also the communities that surround their production. These approaches look beyond the preservation of the work itself, to examine the scene, social milieu or the ‘vibe’ surrounding a work of art. I propose that some strategies used in ethnographic research, in particular Clifford Geertz’s idea of ‘thick description,’ can be used to document and therefore preserve these ephemeral qualities of a new media artwork. Within this proposition, I also suggest that documenting the failure of these works, be it technical, critical, financial or otherwise failed, deepens any preservation strategies already at play. As an example of this strategy I examine StudioXX, a feminist artist-run center in Montreal.

Lire la suite : "“Archiving the Vibe”: Ethnographic Strategies for Archiving New Media Art" Bernadette Houde

 

"New Media Preservation: Archives and Activists" Liz Springate

This paper explores how questions of media preservation change when taken beyond institutional settings and are addressed by activist media producers. As a point of departure, I consider the Men As Partners (MAP)’s digital story collection-rich in personal ‘affective’ materials, objects and images-as an activist ‘archive’ set in a living context of HIV/AIDS and anti-violence activism in South Africa. I argue that these digital stories constitute forms of evidence, that any artifact can become part of an ‘archive’ and participate in a history. New questions concerning preservation are possible from this standpoint: How can ‘affective’ evidence address structural injustices or intervene in social problems. How do issues of media preservation become issues of justice? ...

Lire la suite : "New Media Preservation: Archives and Activists" Liz Springate

 

"Tag, You’re ‘It’: Preserving the Photographic Personal Archive Through Flickr.com" Mél Hogan

This short paper explores the idea of Flickr.com as a viable alternative to the traditional personal archive by comparing the traditional photo album with its virtual alternative; social networking software (SNS). Flickr.com functions as a photo repository online, but its popularity rests on the ever-expanding community that is created and maintained through the site. Participation, feedback and folksonomies are at the heart of Flickr.com. This paper explores these relationships, and delves into the deep dark question of the preservation of digital photography as it pertains to the increasingly public display of personal images.

Lire la suite : "Tag, You’re ‘It’: Preserving the Photographic Personal Archive Through Flickr.com" Mél Hogan

 

III. New Media Realities and Art Preservation

 

"Sensing Bodies: Documentation, Preservation and Wearable Computer Art" Tai van Toorn

Borrowing from biomedical research, contemporary artists are exploring new understandings of the body through the creation of garments integrating small wearable computers and biofeedback sensors which measure and transmit vital signs such as temperature, heart rate, breath, touch and even affect. These multimedia works fuse science with costume and craft, thereby challenging traditional practices of art conservation. Wearable computers consist of delicate, tiny electronic components intended for extensive physical manipulation by participants and use forms of an experimental technology, which has yet to infiltrate the mass market. I adopt a historical and theoretical approach to argue that the preservation and documentation of wearable new media art affirm the social nature of participants’ bodies. Potential strategies for conserving, recording, describing and displaying these works emphasize interactions among users that form networked communities united by shared flows of somatic data. This paper unfolds through a discussion of informatic conceptions of the body, the documentation of performance, exhibition spaces and the preservation of clothing and technology.

Lire la suite : "Sensing Bodies: Documentation, Preservation and Wearable Computer Art" Tai van Toorn

 

"Self-Reflexivity as Self-Documentation: Some Thoughts on Augmented Reality and Relational Architecture" Horea Avram

In the present essay I propose to address the issue of new media documentation considering Rafael Lozano-Hemmer’s work Relational Architecture 11 – Under Scan (2005-2006). The main focus of my analysis is to see how self-reflexivity of an Augmented Reality artwork is doubled by a strategy of self-documentation. In the first part I will shortly explain where the self-reflexivity of the work in discussion is manifest, and then I will discuss the documentation problems considering four main elements identifiable in any new media artwork: Equipment – Work – Experience – Context. For each of these components, I will see where new media “classical” documentation methods are applicable and where self-documentation functions, taking into account the self-reflexivity attributes of this work: the play between illusion and its subversion, the balance between transparency and opacity of the medium, the representation within the work of its own structure.

Lire la suite : "Self-Reflexivity as Self-Documentation: Some Thoughts on Augmented Reality and Relational Architecture" Horea Avram

 

"Between Participation and Documentation: Issues of Preservation in Networked Art" Andria Hickey

This paper explores the ways in which the behavioral nature of online do-it-yourself, art-by-instruction website effects the potential frameworks for future preservation. Using case studies of Hans Ulrich Obrist’s online curatorial project, “DO IT at E-Flux”, and Miranda July’s relational art project, “Learning to Love you More”, this paper compares how differences in participation and audience ultimately effect the trace of an ephemeral work and later preservation strategies.

Lire la suite : "Between Participation and Documentation: Issues of Preservation in Networked Art" Andria Hickey