Conserving Digital Art for the Ages

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Conserving Digital Art for Deep Time
Francis T. Marchese Pace University, New
York http//csis.pace.edu/marchese fmarchese_at_pac
e.edu
Venice, Winter Morning on the Grand Canal,
January 2011
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Giovanni Bellini, Madonna and Child with SS.
Nicholas, Peter, Mark, and Benedict, 1488.
Tempera on panel, S. Maria Gloriosa dei Frari,
Venice
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Challenge

• Year 2511
• Curate show of time-based digital artwork from
  1st decade of 21st century
• What kinds of works will be available?
• What will be the format of theses works?

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Problems Change and Diversity

• Diversity of programming languages
• C/C, Java, JavaScript, C, Flash, HTML, XML,
  Python, Processing, Perl, and Max/MSP.
• Diversity of development libraries
• mobile apps, sound composition, virtual worlds,
  and computer games
• Software substrates in continuous flux
• operating systems and network protocols evolving,
  database formats changing, and globally
  accessible resources either disappearing or
  becoming redistributed
• Hardware - guaranteed obsolescence

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Digital Art Conservation c. 2011

• Stockpile computer technology - replace when it
  fails.
• Archive computer programs to durable media.
• Refresh to new storage medium when either it
  decays or becomes obsolete.
• Attempt to Document artwork.

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Digital Art Conservation c. 2511?

• Proceeds from redefinition of artworks identity.
  (Pip Laurenson, Tate Modern, 2006)
• A digital work should be considered as a
  collection of properties which include
• the artist's instructions
• approved installations intended to act as models
• an understanding of the context in which the art
  was made
• the degree to which the artist specifications
  reflect his or her practice at the time the art
  was created.
• Hence Documentation !

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Software Engineering (SE)
Requirements
Stakeholders
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SE and Documentation

• SE - systematic methodology for creating and
  maintaining documentation
• Documentation
• Intrinsic part of any system
• Supports communication preservation of system
  and institutional memory
• Works with all stakeholders
• Supplies comprehensive information about a
  computer systems
• capabilities, architecture, design details,
  features, and limitations

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Kinds of Documentation

• Requirements
• What the artwork is supposed to do its
  conceptual foundation.
• Architecture/Design
• What are the essential parts of the system and
  how do they fit together. (Usually expressed as
  diagrams.)
• Technical
• Source code, algorithms, comments within source
  code.
• End User
• Manuals (e.g. static documents, hypermedia,
  training videos, etc.) for end-user,
  administrators, and support staff.
• Supplementary Materials
• Anything else (e.g. legal documents, design
  histories, interviews, scholarly books,
  installation plans, drawings, models, documentary
  videos, websites, etc.)

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Adapting the Software Development Lifecycle
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I Want You to Want Me (2008) - Jonathan Harris
Sep Kamvar

• Interactive installation about online dating at
  MoMA
• Sky filled with 100s of pink and blue balloons,
  each representing an individual's online dating
  profile.
• Viewers touch individual balloons to reveal
  personal information about the dater found inside

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Trigger (2005) Jodi Zellen

• Sensor-activated, immersively projected,
  interactive art installation at the Pace Digital
  Gallery (NYC).
• Explored transient stories that emerge from our
  relationships with urban spaces.
• Filled gallery with overlapping videos from 7
  projectors, infusing its space with transient
  sounds.

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Which to show in 500 years?

• I Want You to Want Me
• Distributed architecture
• Multiple operating systems
• Several programming languages APIs
• Unknown data mining algorithms
• Hardware Dependence
• No source code

• Trigger
• Simple architecture
• Sufficient documentation
• Clear requirements
• No source code

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Finally For Future Art Historians

• Authorship
• Was it in the hand of the artist, or was it built
  by others?
• Educational/Cultural Context
• Who influenced the artist conceptually or
  technologically?
• Craftsmanship
• How well was the program written and system
  built?
• Aesthetics
• How well conceived and designed is the software?
• Development Process
• What were the design strategies used by the
  artist?
• Technical Context
• What were the development tools available at the
  time the artwork was created?
• Theoretical Foundation
• What theories of computing did the artist use?

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Conclusions

• Display of digital art at some time in the
  distant future remains an open problem
• Solution will come from efforts by artists,
  conservators, and curators
• Software engineering practices allow
  transformation of conservation practices
• Process will aid digital art scholarship

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Future Work

• Engage conservators and curators to integrate SE
  process into museum acquisition and conservation
  practice
• Engage digital artists and art educators to
  investigate how SE methods may be adapted and
  integrated into digital art education

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Thank you !