Since the closing of the 20th century, the (art) world has changed substantially, and new media are no longer a tactic, a strategy, or a statement, but rather one of the most popular means for commenting on the condition of 21st-century humanity. Artifacts which include an element of the electronic moving image, digital code, the static technical image or sound are no longer limited to projects focusing on new media, but have become an organic component of a large number of exhibitions. Even art works which are presented within the context of the internet or computer games appear in the acquisition-oriented endeavors of galleries and museums all around the world.

Media art is, however, very dependent on technologies which are quickly becoming outdated and are hard to acquire. Many media works are thus losing their potential for being exhibited within a very short span of time, or will eventually become lost forever. We are thus threatened with the prospect that we will lose a large part of our heritage of post-industrial digital culture, since a systematic, widely accepted and satisfactory methodology for their preservation and documentation is, even in this day and age, still non-existent.

In 2018, the New Media Center – Vašulka Kitchen Brno opened under the auspices of the Brno House of Arts. In collaboration with the Vašulkas, as well as with a number of international institutions, it has confronted the need for collecting and archiving electronic artworks.

• What is the current situation in the field of state-owned and private art collections, both Czech and abroad?
• What is the situation at universities which have expertise in creating and archiving video art, interactive audiovisual installations, net art, sound art and other art forms which are considered ‘new media’?

The colloquium entitled Digital-Era Art Works in Galleries and Museums introduced and discuss current knowledge, methods and practices of managing collections in galleries and museums, mainly across Central Europe.

You can find the detailed programme and some recorded lectures below the text.

• Národní filmový archiv
• Teorie interaktivních médií MU
• Katedra teorie a dějin umění, Vysoká škola umělecko průmyslová v Praze
• www.favu.vut.cz/
• agosto-foundation.org/

Keynote lecture:

Consecutio temporum beyond Grammar: The Past, Present and Future of C³

In this lecture I intend to share with you my experiences in the field of new media art, or better to say the relationship between contemporary art and the digital era, including the production, distribution, collection, interpretation and preservation of this type of artistic activity. These experiences are mainly related to the work of C³: the Center for Culture and Communication Foundation which is a not-for-profit institution based in Budapest. Since its initiation in 1996, C³ has focused on fostering the integration of new technologies within social and cultural traditions. Founded as a space for innovative experiments and developments related to communication, culture and an open society, over the last two decades, C³ has developed several layers and strategies. I try to highlight through a palimpsest-like chronology, or via the changing initiatives and attitudes, our attempts regarding the production of the new, meaning the collection of the newly digital-born entity or artwork, including the contextualisation and the preservation of the information about its existence. Furthermore, I will try to show that, from the perspective of the artwork, the creation of an institutional framework is a kind of metadata,  while from the perspective of the institution the artworks could serve as the foundation or reason for its existence. Therefore, some years ago I proposed to establish a media museum based on C³ collections, databases and networks, using a shift in perspective to reshape and rebrand the institutional activity based on the past and also to think the potential future. Yet there remains an unanswered question: What is the most relevant form of a contemporary institution dedicated to the preservation and safekeeping of our digital culture, and keeping it historically accessible? Are there even any?

It is a typically human experience to follow in real time how, through the the process of ageing, the new becomes the old while practically remaining the same. This is – in accelerated form – the situation of media art works, except for the fact that these products are even more fragile than humans. Here, an obvious question arises: Is using the classical concepts of culture and responsibility in the post-information era still a tenable attitude? The question is not poetic or rhetorical, for I think the answer is 'yes.'

Miklós Peternák (born in Esztergom, Hungary, lives in Budapest)  is a writer, lecturer and film/video artist. He studied history and art history (PhD 1994: New Media – Art and Science). He was a member of the Béla-Balázs-Studio, Budapest (1981-87) and the Indigo-Group and head of the Intermedia Department at the Hungarian University of Fine Arts since its foundation, director of C³: Center for Culture and Communication (http://www.c3.hu/) since 1997. He has produced films and videos in the 1980s and published texts on art and media history. He has also organized diverse shows and events.

• www.pm.c3.hu

This presentation explores the potential of AR as a tool to preserve the experience of time-based artworks no longer able to function in their original iteration due to damage, obsolescence, or other barriers. Elements such as moving image or kinetic motion could exist as virtual visual layers integrated with the original object, or alongside it. As an alternative to an exhibition copy or displaying an object with documentation of its past function, AR offers a unique method to connect time-based, work-defining elements to their physical anchors and keep such artworks accessible to viewers. By proposing the application of AR technology through case studies, some limitations will be discussed, as well as questions around ethics and authenticity.

Sasha Arden (pronouns they/them/their) is a graduate candidate in Conservation and Art History at the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University, specializing in Time-Based Media. Their previous experience includes installation of media-based artworks at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, managing media exhibits at the Oakland Museum of California, overseeing all audiovisual resources at the San Francisco Art Institute, and as adjunct Instructor for media production in the Sculpture Department at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC). Sasha completed their Bachelor of Fine Arts at SAIC in 2004, and a Post-Baccalaureate Certificate in Writing at SAIC in 2005.

• nyu.edu

Within recent years, technology and new media has taken some surprising new turns which are challenging media collection caretakers in their quest for best-practices in preservation. Among those, live simulations, Augmented Reality iOS Apps, mobile Apps, and Apple devices are making their way into museums collection. Often these works rely on proprietary technologies and the support of tech companies which have little interest in sustaining their tools in the long term. In fact, these tools by design appear to resist conventional processes of stabilizing the media due to the inherent need to maintain licenses, refresh the media along with incessant system updates, and use proprietary back-up and analysis tools which allow for examination of the device’s inner-workings. While issues in preserving proprietary technology is not new within Time Based Media, these added barriers are further solidifying a need for creating collaboration as a means of combating these issues. 

Establishing a dialogue with the artist and their assistants/fabricators/software developers has become a key aspect for shepherding these works into museum collections and for gaining a better understanding of what the artist’s deliverables are and what the museums will be responsible for preserving. Often, a fully-formed understanding of the work and its ongoing care involves cross-departmental collaboration between curatorial, registration, exhibition design, conservation and audio visual technicians. This specific institutional endeavor is particularly important when more complex media works are being acquired. 

In what ways have these objects challenged our approach towards caring for Time-Based Media and what are some strategies in ensuring that these works are sustained across various stakeholder groups? What are the significant moments in the life-cycle of these works that will help collecting institutions in better understand their vulnerable nature and ultimately making decisions about their future care? 

This presentation seeks to unravel these questions through the use of few case studies and a year long joint effort between the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) and the Museum of Modern Art New York (MoMA). In 2016, Composition for Marimba (2016) by Mungo Thomson was acquired by the LACMA. This work consists of a mobile phone mounted on a tripod which acts as a set piece and audio-visual display device. An iOS mobile app displays a random sequence of images of playing cards which are linked to audio files playing marimba tones and then sent to wireless speakers in the space. In 2017, WYD RN (2017) by Martine Syms was acquired by the MoMA. The work is an Augmented Reality iOS downloadable App which acts through a randomized facial recognition mechanism on a set of twelve archival pigment prints on found posters that were installed in the exhibition space. As part of the installation Incense, Sweaters & Ice (2017) this work was downloadable for visitors during the show and was conceived as a bridge between the posters and the videos installed as a means to create a conversation between these elements. 

In examining case studies in conserving iOS mobile app artworks during which LACMA and MoMA were involved in collaborative research, we gained a stronger understanding of the unique risks posed in preserving media that relies on devices that are increasingly more diffuse. We have learned that mobile technologies are in many ways a moving target, resisting constancy in terms of ownership, destination platform(s), and related dependencies. This further complicates our understanding of best practices in preserving software-based art. Stemming from this understanding, we see institutional context as key, particularly in developing policies around conservation decision-making and in defining the identity of the work as it unfolds in its different manifestations. Identifying the core identity of the work will inevitably involve a privileging of certain functions. Based on the complex task of preserving such technological artworks, ongoing preservation cannot take place within an institutional vacuum, and this notion of collaboration continues to be essential. This presentation ultimately seeks to highlight how our respective institutions responded to these challenges and developed procedures for properly determining shared practices, understanding that we all have different vantage points on what forms our collective understanding of the work.

Joey Heinen is a digital preservation and time based media specialist, currently serving as Digital Preservation Manager in the Collection Information and Digital Assets Department and head of the Time Based Media Committee at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. He graduated from the Moving Image Archiving and Preservation MA program at NYU in 2014. During his tenure he worked in NYU's film preservation lab, digitized audio for Anthology Film Archives, and served as a media collection and digitization assistant for new media artists Steina & Woody Vasulka. Following this he was selected for the National Digital Stewardship Residency at Harvard Library. He currently serves on the American Institute for Conservation's Electronic Media Group board as Secretary/Treasurer and the planning committee for the TechFocus conference. 

Flaminia Fortunato is a Andrew W. Mellon fellow in Media Conservation at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) New York. As part of the Media Conservation team at the museum she is involved in day to day acquisition, documentation, installation and conservation of the media collection. She holds a MA in Conservation-Restoration of Modern Materials and Media from the University of the Arts Bern, Switzerland and a BSc in Chemistry for Conservation-Restoration from the University Ca' Foscari in Venice, Italy. She was a summer intern at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington D.C, a media conservation resident at the Museum of Contemporary Zagreb and she worked as a contemporary art conservation assistant in private practice in Italy.

• https://www.moma.org/
• www.lacma.org/learn/conservation

In contemporary art, there is an increasing number of artworks made of ephemeral, unstable and easily degradable materials. These are very difficult to stabilize or consolidate in order to stop their unavoidable degradation, or at least prolong their lifespan. Due to this, their preservation and restoration is often very problematic. Furthermore, in many cases, there is a discrepancy between two contradictory standpoints – the intentions of the artist versus the responsibilities, wishes or interests of the stakeholders, owners, or those who are in charge of the preservation. This is especially the case of museums. Artworks are often created by the artists with the intention that they will deteriorate, and the change of materials and their degradation is part of their intended meaning.

This presentation deals with one such example, presenting an artwork where the consolidation, and the preservation of the work as such, presents an almost unresolvable Hamletesque question – the dilemma of the consolidation and prolongation of its agony, or the inevitable complete replacement with all the consequences, may it be ethical, aesthetic or philosophical. Furthemore, problems of another level will also be briefly outlined – such as the individual personal evaluations and conceptions by various professionals on the same artwork  which may be completely at odds to each other, as well as the changing intention of the artist/author and of their work in time.

Prof. ak. mal. Tomáš Lahoda (born 1954 in Prague) is an artist, teacher and restorer. He graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague, from 1993-1998 he was the head of the Painting Studio at the Jutland Academy of Fine Arts in Arhus, Denmark, 2007-2012 head of the Painting I studio at the Faculty of Fine Arts, Brno University of Technology. Since 2013, he has been lecturing on restoration of modern and contemporary art at The Faculty of Restoration of the Pardubice University.

• fr.upce.cz
• lahoda.com

In the beginning there were collecting physical objects from airports and military junkyards, kitchens and back yards, to document the coexistence of art and electronic media. Gradually followed by the desire to collect, to disassemble, to sort, to analyze and - above all - to share. The lifelong obsession for Archive - an utopian space to live in, for sharing, collaborating with others - meandering from studios, universities labs, foundations, new media centers, towards online archives, databases and virtual 3D worlds.

Lenka Dolanová (born 1979) is an art historian and curator, she works at the Regional Gallery in Jihlava [OGV], where she is responsible for the collection of print materials and new media, the IGLOO sound gallery program and the editor of journal O_kraj. She is a member of yo-yo association, KRA - Kravín Rural Arts and Vasulka Kitchen Brno. In her spare time, she works in a café in the cultural area of Zastavkafe in Chotěboř. In 2011, she published a book Dialogue with Tool Demons - Steina and Woody Vasulka (published by NAMU and JSAF).

• www.ogv.cz/
• yo-yo-yo.org/old/kravin.html

The SLIDERS_lab [Frederic Curien, Jean-Marie Dallet] is a collective artists who had worked with Steina and Woody Vasulka since 2013. With them and also separatly this group proceed the processing of the Vasulkas archive following two strategies: 
conservation — update, creation of new entities — and activation — Reinterpretation as the exploration of the past from the present, devise other futures.

1 – Conservation 
1.1 – Update and creation of new pictures 
‘Update’ means the possibility of improving the original digital file quality by rewritting it with new softwares. In fact what could be consider as a mild transgression of the ‘original’ is an update or more an ‘actualization’ of the digital folder. I've used this strategy of conservation with two series of Woody Vasulka's artworks, Time/Energy Objects (1974) and Lucifer’s Commission (1981). I indeed have organized a production of three sets of twenty-three pictures of these images with the Liedts-Meesen  Foundation (Ghent, Belgium) and Fresnoy Studio (Roubaix, France). The first part of this production allowed us to improve Woody Vasullka’s original files with a specific work on  Adobe Photoshop software. This step prepared the development of two new photographies series with a Durst Lambda machine that have increased Woody Vasulka's artwork. 

1.2 – Creation of a new archive place 
VIM (Vasulka Interactive Multimedia, 2013-2019) is an interactive archive console organizing the navigation in a Vasulka’s database containing more than four thousand documents: texts, discussions, drawings, programs, catalogues, photographies, videos, and more.  These documents are classified by creation and placed on a virtual cylinder that are all arranged one above the other building an archive tower. The viewer can turned these cylinders to the left or right from three touch screens placed vertically to consult the views. Then you had, again, three touch screens arranged horizontally on the furniture. The one on the far left showed an enlargement of the consulted image, the one in the middle showed a video of the creation, while the one on the far right presented a cartel with a title, the year of creation, the inventory number and more. There is also an internet connection that allowed anyone who is authorized to connect to the database and add informations. 

2 – Activation 
2.1 – Reinterpretation as a new fiction 
In this case reinterpretation is a creative act that interrogate the original to move it in new fictional territories. Lucifer’s Commission (2015) belongs to this class. Three films were made using the images from the Time/Energy Objects and Lucifer's Commission series. Each are separatly projected on three big screens hanging and attaching with each other. The first is a journey  to the confines of a universe with the passage inside a white cubic construction, a pixel lost in the universe. The second reuse the Time/Energy Objects serie’s images. These have been placed on two cylinders in rotation arranged one above the other. On the top one, an extrusion effect have been applied that gave the impression that the photographs were composed before our eyes. Then this global form have been duplicated and showed further into the virtual space and we then invented a path in these memory architectures using a camera whose trajectory had been programmed. The third is a carousel composed of photographs folded to form cubes. The carousel turns, the spectator passes through walls of images and the round of the different structures invites the observer to an endless journey as close as possible to the frame of Woody's images. 

2.2 – Rearticulation of artistic thought 
This rearticulation is also a reinterpretation from which one tries to understand the  original. In our case, we wanted to interrogate how digital language and ALU (Arithmetic Logic Unit) logic supported by Woody Vasulka’s Syntax of Binary Images (1978) were  potential carriers of new poetics. In time, we developped a multisensory fields of activity around the concept of ALU and  tested the capacity of this artwork to generate networks of relation that interconnects different versions of it. First we created a video, Digital Vocabulary (2015), with the  photographic plates of Syntax of Binary Images and placed them in a virtual space where a camera hovers over them, moving closer and then away again, transforming the whole into a landscape of data. Secondly the 256 forms of this film are captured in their movements and printed using a 3D printer and then left on a light table. The virtual becomes real and is  incarnated in forms. Third we placed spectators in an interactive space where these movements generate the videoprojection of Boolean matrices with a soundtrack attached to them. 

Frédéric Curien is a composer and sound artist, he teaches at the ÉESI and at the University of Poitiers. He runs the bassoon instrumental space Cartography project, and takes part in the Arcad program with the Acroe, whose aim is to integrate physical and theorical tools based on physical modelling into fine arts. Frédéric Curien develops the audio part of SLIDERS, a collective attempt of interactive cinema. The project is supported by the D.A.P., Research and Innovation department.He operates at the very junction of music and visual arts, on aesthetic quality of interactive sound and musical space in contemporary art. He takes interest in sound synthesis and composing environments, and produces music for film, concert and stage.

• sliderslab.com

By taking a closer look at two to three example works which have been created and/or managed by a gallery, I want to illustrate the workflow and possibilities of an internationally active gallery in the field of preservation. Most of the galleries do not have a conservator (specialized in multimedia art) in their team and do not confront future problematics with this kind of art work. As a result, many multimedia pieces degrade and technical equipment, such as VHS-recorders, camcorders, 16mm film rolls, or CRT-monitors, age in wooden crates without anyone taking notice. After some years, new solutions need to be found to make it possible to reinstall the art works again.

Often, digitization and new technical equipment is needed in order to retain the possibility for reinstallation. But this comes with an actual change to the art work, one which the artist needs to authorize. Technically, as long as the artist is fine with the "redesign" of their artwork, it is not a problem, but on the other hand the gallery pushes the change of an art work in order to exhibit and potentially sell it. At the same time, there is not enough time to do proper research and conservation of the art work's hard- and software, which could yield the truth as to the original experience of the viewer. While these changes happen in discussion between technicians, the sales team, the artist liaisons and the artists, the documentation of the actual "preservation" process is not recorded. After finishing a project, rudimentary notes are saved in a database and, most of the time, technical information is only transferred verbally. This means that if one team member leaves the gallery, the knowledge of his work leaves as well and it probably will not be handed over with the art work to future collectors and conservators. Apart from the hardware, the databases and file types also need to be checked and managed for preservation, which is also not the main focus of a gallery. Instead, the gallery focuses on file types and data transfer in the present, but only rarely keeps the future readability of those files in mind.

As a trained conservator of photographs and multimedia art, and after working for numerous museums, I was confronted with different views on the preservation of art works in the gallery context. I tried to find a way to sensitize my team to the preservation of multimedia art works, but also started questioning myself about the conservator's role.  A gallery is a commercial enterprise which needs to generate money to be able to produce art, and preserving multimedia art (and art in general) is not a main topic for galleries at the moment. Should it be?

Carolin Pommert is a freelancing conservator of photographic and audiovisual heritage, Head of archive and preservation at the contemporary art gallery neugerriemschneider - Berlin.Master's degree: Entrepreneur NOVIA University of Applied Science, Jakobstadt (Finland), bachelor degree: Restoration / Conservation of Audiovisual and Photographic Heritage University of Applied Science, HTW-Berlin.

• neugerriemschneider.com

Digitalization is a new challenge for art museums. The current museum visitors find themselves more and more exposed to digital reproductions of artefacts - not only on the Internet, but also in exhibition spaces. In my paper, I will reflect on how this development has influenced the visitors, and focus on the application of new technologies in the preservation and presentation of artifacts, as well as the representation of museums and galleries themselves, in the 21st century.

Tereza Škvárová (Praha) graduated from the departement of Theory and history of Modern and Contemporary Art at the The Academy of Arts, Architecture & Design in Prague and  art History at the Philosophical faculty Charels University in Prague. Currently she works at the  Galerie Rudolfinum in Prague.

• www.umprum.cz/