[ARSCLIST] Media Matters phase two launch - A Website for the Management of Timed-Based Media Works of Art

[Pip Laurenson <Pip.Laurenson@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Museum Consortium Launches Second Phase of Media Matters, A Website for
the Management of Timed-Based Media Works of Art
Visit Media Matters at www.tate.org.uk/mediamatters

A consortium of curators, conservators, registrars, legal advisors, and
media technical managers from New Art Trust, The Museum of Modern Art
(MoMA), the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA), and Tate has
launched the second phase of Media Matters, an innovative website
designed to provide international guidelines for the care of time-based
media works of art (e.g. video, slide, film, audio, and computer-based
installations). The consortium launched the first phase, on loaning
time-based media works, in 2004. The second phase, launched in 2007,
raises awareness about acquiring time-based media works. 
The second phase of Media Matters is the result of a two-day meeting
held in January 2007 at MoMA, sponsored by New Art Trust. Giving
particular focus to the process of acquiring time-based works, the new
content provides effective and practical acquisition methods, as well as
tools for their implementation. The website addresses what to consider
prior to purchasing a specific work, the activities that need to be
completed before title can change hands, and how to prepare work for its
future life within a collection. A range of templates has been provided,
including copyright and purchase agreements, structure and condition
reports, and a cost assessment. The consortium hopes that the
information will be a valuable resource for artists, collectors,
dealers, and museums who are especially concerned with the acquisition
of time-based work.

About Media Matters
Since the late 1960s and early 1970s, artists have sold works to museums
and collectors incorporating 35mm slides, video, film, audio, and
computer-based elements. In light of advances in technology, which made
the presentation of time-based media more accessible, such works have
become an integral part of the contemporary art scene. Media Matters
has, for the first time, brought together a group of professional
curators, registrars, conservators, and technical and legal experts to
raise awareness of the requirements of these works and to provide a
practical response to the need for international agreement among
museums. 
The challenge of preserving and managing time-based media is one best
met collaboratively, and, it is the group's hope that others will not
only benefit from this information but will also contribute over time to
the further refinement of methods for care of these works of art. The
material is intended to aid to artists, collectors, dealers and museums,
the primary custodians of time-based media. 

Visit Media Matters at www.tate.org.uk/mediamatters
Press contacts:  Pip Laurenson at pip.laurenson@xxxxxxxxxxx ,  Libby
Garrison at lgarrison@xxxxxxxxxx, Margaret Doyle at
margaret_doyle@xxxxxxxxx