Symposium and lectures on conservation of digital art works

Digital Art Works. The Challenges of Conservation

Series of lectures at Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe (ZKM)
Lorenzstr. 19, 76135 Karlsruhe, Germany
ZKM Lecture Hall:

    Nov 3, 2011
    Nov 30, 2011
    Dec 14, 2011

    Jan 18, 2012
    Feb 8, 2012

Each at 6 pm, admission free

Language: German

How can digital data be stored over the long term if the new
notebook is already obsolete as soon as it leaves the store? This
phenomenon also presents problems in art: What happens to media art
when the Internet environment for which it was conceived, changes?
Is it admissible to show works that were once developed for the PC
now on an iPad? A Series of lectures in the context of the
exhibition: Digital Art Works. The Challenges of Conservation
(October 29, 2011 - February 12, 2012) at the ZKM | Media Museum
fundamentally explores questions related to collecting, exhibiting,
and maintaining computer-based art works and makes the work
concerning digital conservation visible.

For a few decades now, digitalization has enabled and simplified the
processing and distribution of data; digital data are available on
the Internet for all users at all times. Basically, however, the
conservation of digital content has been subject to an increasingly
rapid adaptation to new technical systems. This circumstance creates
uncertainty concerning the sustainability of our cultural memory.

Since January of 2010, ZKM Karlsruhe, together with five partners
from France and Switzerland have developed strategies for the
conservation of digital art works in the framework of the EU
research project: Digitale Medienkunst am Oberrhein. Konservierung -
Restaurierung - Zukunftssicherung, or digital art conservation.

Using ten case studies, concepts were developed for the long-term
conservation of the type of art works, which have become fragile due
to rapidly changing technology. The ten case studies as well as
other works from the ZKM collection form the core of: Digital Art
Works. The Challenges of Conservation; they open up the broad
spectrum of problems in the conservation of digital art and point to
the necessity of preservation.

About digital art conservation:

The project, digital art conservation, is dedicated primarily to the
research and presentation of conservation methods. Building on the
experience over many years of ZKM | Karlsruhe, Digital Art Works
aims to hold two symposia and a publication of collected essays,
adding a contribution to the international discussion in the area of
conservation. The project runs until December 2012 and is
co-financed by the EU program INTERREG IV Oberrhein.

In the context of the research project, a discussion was held in
autumn 2010 at the international conference: The Digital Oblivion,
at ZKM | Karlsruhe, which investigated the question of the future of
our digital cultural inheritance, especially in regard to the
conservation of media art: What effect do the ever more rapid
developments in technology mean for artists, collectors, and
archivists? Do the criteria that have applied until now--that of
originality, longevity, and sustainability of art works and
collections--still apply to digital media art? The first results
will be presented in the exhibition, Digital Art Works. The
Challenges of Conservation.

Furthermore, from 24-25 November 2011 a symposium will be held in
Strasbourg on the research project: digital art conservation.

Curators: Bernhard Serexhe, Chiara Marchini Camia

Further information:

    <URL:http://www02.zkm.de/digitalartconservation/>
    <URL:http://on1.zkm.de/zkm/stories/storyReader$7768>

Series of Lectures:

    Thurs, November 3, 2011
    Personal Computer - 30 years PC
    Lecture by Boris Jakubaschk

        The personal computer has transformed office work entirely;
        and yet the way in which one informs one's self in
        professional or private life, how one communicates and how
        one works creatively has been no less strongly influenced by
        PCs. With the aid of functioning exhibits the lecture traces
        the emergence of the first IBM PC and which of its
        predecessors and successors decisively influenced its
        development.

    Wed, November 30, 2011
    Introduction to the long-term storage of digital images
    Lecture by Sven Schonauer

        A data record cannot be considered without auxiliary means.
        The digital image has existed for the last 30 years. There
        are many losses, and the images that have survived are
        models for present-day strategies for the long-term
        archiving of data. One has learned from mistakes. Clearly,
        over the course of time, many developments have flowed into
        technologies. One such development has been the currently
        much-discussed Cloud. The basis for digitalization, color
        management, helps to generate and evaluate digital image
        files. To select the right data format and to store it on an
        appropriate medium are basic steps and means of storage.

    Wed, December 14, 2011
    Hacking as (Life) Art
    Lecture by Sven Braun

       "Hacking is when one can heat the water for potato puree
        with the coffee machine."--Wau Holland

    Wed. January 18, 2012
    8mm Eternity. From Analog 8mm Small Film Format to Digital Copy
    Lecture by Anna Leippe

        The 8mm small film format looks back to a 80 year-old
        history, and is thus one of the most important parts of our
        visual and cultural memory. In order to protect, but also to
        make it accessible, digitalization appears to be the ideal
        solution. But unexpected difficulties make their
        appearances. The 8mm film is considered as the material of
        the amateur filmmaker and is thus treated in all but a few
        of the highly professional copy replication plants. The
        archive must avoid the market, which is a mix of various
        technologies and qualities. This lecture discusses the
        special features of the 8mm film in the preparation and
        execution of its digitalization, and provides an overview of
        the various "translation possibilities".

    Wed, February 8, 2012
    The Preservation of Computer Games and the Role of Emulation
    Lecture by Andreas Lange

        Most digital works of art, like computer games, are of a
        complex nature, and quite often require interaction with the
        recipients. This leads to the fact that the technical, but
        also curatorial conservation of computer and video games, as
        well as digital works of art, share the same prerequisites
        and objectives. A central tool for the conservation of
        complex digital artifacts are emulators, which have been
        developed, for the most part, by the retro-gamer community
        and which are now being taken up by institutions.
        Consequently, in 2009 the European research project KEEP

            <URL:http://www.keep-project.eu>

        was established, the aim of which was to make available the
        programs developed in the games community, and consequently
        usable in larger social and cultural contexts. As Director
        of the Computer Games Museum and member of KEEP consortium,
        Andreas Lange will provide an account of the current status
        and future perspectives.

Contact:

    Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe (ZKM)
    Lorenzstr. 19
    D-76135 Karlsruhe
    +49 721 8100 1200
    Fax: +49 721 8100 1139
    info<-a t->zkm< . >de

See also <URL:http://www.zkm.de>


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 25:19
                Distributed: Saturday, October 15, 2011
                       Message Id: cdl-25-19-005
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