Collecting and Presenting Born-Digital Art
… a matter of translation and (historical) knowledge

A working conference organized by Baltan Laboratories in collaboration with the Van Abbemuseum
Eindhoven, 14 – 15 December 2012

“Why is it still easier to get an entire museum collection on the Internet than to get a single work of Internet-based Art in a museum space?”

This question was posed during a book launch of the Viennese curator’s collective Context in August 2011. It very clearly points to one of the sore spots in the discussion of why there is so little digital art in museums collections. Although it is common to use digital technologies for information exchange both inside the museum and outside, through distributing content through their websites and social media platforms, the presentation and presence of digital art in museum collections is still rare.

This working conference will address significant changes in contemporary artistic production by facilitating knowledge exchange between different art worlds. Through discussions and analyzing several case studies we aim to increase understanding of each other’s aesthetics, art historical links, economies, technical challenges and organizational structures.

Sessions will be led by, among others: Sarah Cook and Beryl Graham (CRUMB), Galit Eilat (Van Abbemuseum), Annie Fletcher (Van Abbemuseum), Ben Fino-Radin (Rhizome), Paulien ‘t Hoen and Gaby Wijers (SBMK/NIMk), Christiane Paul (Whitney Museum of American Art), Edward Shanken (University of Memphis), Jill Sterrett (SFMoma).

We like to invite anyone with a profound interest in collecting and presenting born-digital art to sign up. There is a limited number of seats available, therefore a selection process will take place.
In order to participate we like you to write a statement of max 500 words describing why you want to participate and what you would like to get out of the conference. Application for participation can be send together with a short biography before 15 November 2012 to : info[at]baltanlaboratories.org.

Help!

We are also looking for students that like to help us facilitate the event, the discussions and the outcomes. If you’re interested please write a motivation + short resume to info[at]baltanlaboratories.org
Volunteering means free access to the working conference! Get inspired, be part of it!

Costs

The two-day programme is 45,- euros, and includes lunch and drinks. There is a special student price of 25,- euros.
A public event takes place on Friday evening 14 December in Plaza Futura. More information will follow shortly.

This project is initiated by Angela Plohman and further conceptualised by Annet Dekker (http://aaaan.net).

 

This project is supported by: