Collecting and Conserving Software-based Art (Outside the Institution)

Software-based art (i.e. that in which software is the primary medium) presents considerable challenges for artists, collectors, and conservators, who are hoping to preserve artworks in the long-term. It is essential then that these parties consider the implications of technological change, and take action where appropriate. However as with artistic practise itself, software-based artworks vary considerably in their components and behaviour, and typically require a bespoke approach to conservation which can be both time consuming and expensive. There has up until recently been little consideration of the role of the private collections in the context of software-based art, with collections of such works being a relative rarity. Despite this lack of representation, the medium presents great opportunities for the democratisation (via open, internet distribution) of collecting, an activity which has traditionally been something of a rarefied hobby. Drawing on research into the preservation of complex digital objects, I discuss some of the major challenges for those collecting and conserving software-based art, and outline some approaches to these challenges achievable without the resources of a major institution.

Content

Author and article information

Contributors

Tom Ensom

Conference

Publication date: July 2015

Publication date (Print): July 2015

Pages: 148-152

Affiliations

[0001]King’s College London

Department of Digital Humanities, King’s College London, Drury Lane, London, WC2E 9NH, UK

Article

DOI: 10.14236/ewic/eva2015.14

SO-VID: 7ad96ee1-7fe8-45bb-bb7a-b31400e478b2

License:

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Conference name: Electronic Visualisation and the Arts (EVA 2015)

Conference acronym: EVA

Conference number:

Conference location: London, UK

Conference date: 7 & 9 July 2015

Conference sponsor: Electronic Workshops in Computing (eWiC)

Conference theme: Electronic Visualisation and the Arts

Product

Product Information: 1477-9358BCS Learning & Development

Self URI (article page): https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.14236/ewic/eva2015.14

Self URI (journal page): https://ewic.bcs.org/

REFERENCES

L Adang 2013 Untitled Project: A Cross Disciplinary Investigation of JODI’s Untitled Game Rhizome.org New York, USA
F CoruboloA.G EggersA HasanM HedgesS WaddingtonJ Ludwig 2014 A pragmatic approach to signifcant environment information collection to support object reuse Presented at iPRES 2014 Melbourne, Australia
A Dekker 2014 Enabling the Future, or How to Survive FOREVER1: A study of networks, processes and ambiguity in net art and the need for an expanded practice of conservationPhD thesis)
A DepocasJ IppolitoC Jones 2003 Permanence through change: The variable media approach Guggenheim Museum Publ. New York
K DippleP LaurensonF Fadenza-Rodrigues 2010 Describing Networked Art for the Purpose of Documentation and Conservation Tate London, UK
B Fino-Radin 2011 Digital Preservation Practices and the Rhizome Artbase Rhizome.org New York, USA
E KaltmanN Wardrip-FruinH LowoodC Caldwell 2014 A Unified Approach to Preserving Cultural Software Objects and their Development Histories Center for Games and Playable Media University of California Santa Cruz,USA
G Knight 2009 InSPECT – Framework Report – Investigating Significant Properties of Electronic Content http://www.significantproperties.org.uk/inspect-finalreport.pdf 18 03 2015
P Laurenson 2006 Authenticity, change and loss in the conservation of time-based media installations Tate Papers Issue 6
Library of Congress 2013 Perspectives on Personal Digital Archiving http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/documents/eboo kpdf_march18.pdf 19 03 2015
T Lurk 2011 Checklist for recording and documentation of digital artworks. Computer and software based artworks or installations with computer controlled elements Bern University of the Arts Bern, Switzerland.
T Lurk 2008 Virtualisation as conservation measure Archiving Conference 2008(1) Society for Imaging Science and Technology
B MatthewsB McIlwrathD GiarettaE Conway 2008 The Significant Properties of Software: A Study JISC report UK
J.P McDonoughR OlendorfM KirschenbaumK KrausD ResideR DonahueA PhelpsC EgertH LowoodS Rojo 2010 Preserving Virtual Worlds Final Report http://hdl.handle.net/2142/17097 19 March 2015
K RechertD EspenschiedI ValizadaT LiebetrautN RusslerD von Suchodoletz 2013 An Architecture for Community-Based Curation and Presentation of Complex Digital Objects Digital Libraries: Social Media and Community Networks p103 112 Springer International Publishing
R RinehartJ Ippolito 2014 Re-collection: Art, new media, and social memory MIT Press Cambridge, Massachusetts

Comments

Comment on this article

[1] L Adang 2013 Untitled Project: A Cross Disciplinary Investigation of JODI’s Untitled Game Rhizome.org New York, USA

[2] F CoruboloA.G EggersA HasanM HedgesS WaddingtonJ Ludwig 2014 A pragmatic approach to signifcant environment information collection to support object reuse Presented at iPRES 2014 Melbourne, Australia

[3] A Dekker 2014 Enabling the Future, or How to Survive FOREVER1: A study of networks, processes and ambiguity in net art and the need for an expanded practice of conservationPhD thesis)

[4] A DepocasJ IppolitoC Jones 2003 Permanence through change: The variable media approach Guggenheim Museum Publ. New York

[5] K DippleP LaurensonF Fadenza-Rodrigues 2010 Describing Networked Art for the Purpose of Documentation and Conservation Tate London, UK

[6] B Fino-Radin 2011 Digital Preservation Practices and the Rhizome Artbase Rhizome.org New York, USA

[7] E KaltmanN Wardrip-FruinH LowoodC Caldwell 2014 A Unified Approach to Preserving Cultural Software Objects and their Development Histories Center for Games and Playable Media University of California Santa Cruz,USA

[8] G Knight 2009 InSPECT – Framework Report – Investigating Significant Properties of Electronic Content http://www.significantproperties.org.uk/inspect-finalreport.pdf 18 03 2015

[9] P Laurenson 2006 Authenticity, change and loss in the conservation of time-based media installations Tate Papers Issue 6

[10] Library of Congress 2013 Perspectives on Personal Digital Archiving http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/documents/eboo kpdf_march18.pdf 19 03 2015

[11] T Lurk 2011 Checklist for recording and documentation of digital artworks. Computer and software based artworks or installations with computer controlled elements Bern University of the Arts Bern, Switzerland.

[12] T Lurk 2008 Virtualisation as conservation measure Archiving Conference 2008(1) Society for Imaging Science and Technology

[13] B MatthewsB McIlwrathD GiarettaE Conway 2008 The Significant Properties of Software: A Study JISC report UK

[14] J.P McDonoughR OlendorfM KirschenbaumK KrausD ResideR DonahueA PhelpsC EgertH LowoodS Rojo 2010 Preserving Virtual Worlds Final Report http://hdl.handle.net/2142/17097 19 March 2015

[15] K RechertD EspenschiedI ValizadaT LiebetrautN RusslerD von Suchodoletz 2013 An Architecture for Community-Based Curation and Presentation of Complex Digital Objects Digital Libraries: Social Media and Community Networks p103 112 Springer International Publishing

[16] R RinehartJ Ippolito 2014 Re-collection: Art, new media, and social memory MIT Press Cambridge, Massachusetts