Curatorial Perspectives on Collecting Time-based Media Art

in: Conservation of Time-Based Media Art, eds. Deena Engel and Joanna Phillips. London: Routledge, 2022, 28–38.

Conservation of Time-based Media Art is the first book to take stock of the current practices and conceptual frameworks that define the emerging field of time-based media conservation, which focuses on contemporary artworks that contain video, audio, film, slides or software components.

Written and compiled by a diverse group of time-based media practitioners around the world, including conservators, curators, registrars and technicians among others, this volume offers a comprehensive survey of specialized practices that have developed around the collection, preservation and display of time-based media art. Divided into 23 chapters with contributions from 36 authors and 85 additional voices, the narrative of this book provides both an overview and detailed guidance on critical topics, including the acquisition, examination, documentation and installation of time-based media art; cross-medium and medium-specific treatment approaches and methods; the registration, storage, and management of digital and physical artwork components; collection surveys and project advocacy; lab infrastructures, staffing and the institutional implementation of time-based media conservation.

Conservation of Time-based Media Art serves as a critical resource for conservation students and for a diverse professional audience who engage with time-based media art, including conservation practitioners and other collection caretakers, curators, art historians, collectors, gallerists, artists, scholars and academics.

 

Annet Dekker, A Roundtable: Curatorial Perspectives on Collecting Time-based Media Art
– Annet Dekker in conversation with Karen Archey, Ulanda Blair, Sarah Cook, Ana Gonçalves Magalhães, Sabine Himmelsbach, Kelani Nichole, Christiane Paul and Henna Paunu

This roundtable discussion, conceptualized and moderated by Annet Dekker and held on June 3, 2020, brings together an international group of time-based media curators and scholars who work in a variety of institutional and cultural settings, ranging from museums and galleries to universities, from Asia, Europe, and the US to South America. In conversation, they share their experiences in collecting and preserving art and offer their perspectives on shifting roles in curatorial and conservation and evolving collaborative practices. Annet Dekker (Assistant Professor of Media Studies, University of Amsterdam) is a curator and scholar of digital arts; Karen Archey (Curator of Contemporary Art, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam) heads the research initiative on the conservation, acquisition and display of time-based media; Ulanda Blair (Curator of Moving Image, M+ in Hong Kong) is developing the moving-image collection at M+; Sarah Cook (Professor of Museum Studies, University of Glasgow) is a curator and writer on digital art and co-founder of CRUMB; Ana Gonçalves Magalhães (Director, MAC USP—Museum of Contemporary Art, University of São Paulo) is an art historian and curator; Sabine Himmelsbach (Director of HEK—House of Electronic Arts Basel) collects and exhibits digital art; Kelani Nichole (Founder, TRANSFER gallery, Los Angeles) explores expanded art practice and supports artists in producing software-based art; Christiane Paul (Curator of Digital Art, Whitney Museum, and Professor of Media Studies at the New School) curates and writes about digital art aesthetics and practices; and Henna Paunu (Chief Curator Collections, EMMA [Espoo Museum of Modern Art in Finland]) is interested in the relationship between art and environmental and social phenomena.

 

CONTENT

Part 1: Caring for Time-based Media Art

1. Implementing Time-based Media Art Conservation in Museum Practice – Joanna Phillips;

2. Theories of Time-based Media Art Conservation: From Ontologies to Ecologies – Renée van de Vall;

3. A Roundtable: Curatorial Perspectives on Collecting Time-based Media Art – Annet Dekker in conversation with Karen Archey, Ulanda Blair, Sarah Cook, Ana Gonçalves Magalhães, Sabine Himmelsbach, Kelani Nichole, Christiane Paul and Henna Paunu;

4. Institutional Assessments and Collection Surveys for Time-based Media Conservation – Lia Kramer, Alexandra Nichols, Mollie Anderson, Nora Kennedy, Lorena Ramírez López, and Glenn Wharton;

5. Outside the Institution: Crossing the Boundaries of Communities and Disciplines to Preserve Time-based Media – Mona Jimenez, Kristin MacDonough and Martha Singer;

6. The Role of Advocacy in Media Conservation – Jim Coddington;

Part 2: Building a Workplace

7. Building a Time-based Media Conservation Lab: A Survey and Practical Guide, from Minimum Requirements to Dream Lab – Kate Lewis;

8. Digital Storage for Artworks: Theory and Practice – Amy Brost;

9. Staffing and Training in Time-based Media Conservation – Louise Lawson; 10. A Roundtable: Implementing Cross-Departmental Workflows at SFMOMA – Martina Haidvogl in conversation with Michelle Barger, Joshua Churchill, Steve Dye, Rudolf Frieling, Mark Hellar, Jill Sterrett, Grace T. Weiss, Layna White, and Tanya Zimbardo;

Part 3: Cross-medium Practices in Time-based Media Conservation

11. Documentation as an Acquisition and Collection Tool for Time-based Media Artworks – Patricia Falcão, Ana Ribeiro, and Francesca Colussi;

12. Inventory and Database Registration of Time-based Media Art – Martina Haidvogl and Linda Leckart;

13. Digital Preservation and the Information Package – Nicole Martin;

14. Disk imaging as a back-up tool for digital objects – Eddy Colloton, Jonathan Farbowitz, and Caroline Gil Rodríquez;

15. Managing and Storing Artwork Equipment in Time-based Media Art – Duncan Harvey;

16. The Installation of Time-based Media Artworks – Tom Cullen;

17. A Roundtable: Collaborating with Media Artists to Preserve their Art – Joanna Phillips and Deena Engel in conversation with Lauren Cornell, Mark Hellar, Diego Mellado, Steven Sacks, Lena Stringari, Siebren Versteeg and Gaby Wijers;

Part 4: Medium-specific Practices in Time-based Media Conservation

18. Caring for Analog and Digital Video Art – Agathe Jarczyk and Peter Oleksik;

19. Sound in Time-based Media Art – Chris McDonald;

20. Caring for Analog and Digital Film-based Art – John Klacsmann with a contribution by Julian Antos;

21. Caring for Slide-based Artworks – Jeffrey Warda;

22. Caring for Software- and Computer-based Art – Deena Engel, Tom Ensom, Patricia Falcão , and Joanna Phillips;

23. A Word about Performance Art – Hélia Marçal.