Preservation of Born Digital Art (Glasgow 8 Oct 04) Oliver Grau ERPANET Workshop on the Preservation of Born Digital Art Glasgow, Scotland 8th October 2004 ERPANET is pleased to announce a workshop on the preservation of born digital art. This one-day event, co-sponsored by the Centre for Contemporary Arts (CCA), will be held in Glasgow, Scotland, on the 8th of October 2004. Digital technologies are a ubiquitous presence in contemporary art practice, from production through to presentation and preservation. Born digital art employs technologies as its very own medium, exploring their inherent properties, conventions, contents, contexts, and potentials for interaction and participation. They may take the form of an installation or digital environment; a website or web intervention; custom software; or an attachment to an email. New media galleries and organizations have engaged in commissioning, facilitating, presenting, and, vitally, archiving digital artworks and projects. Indeed, several have formed on-line databases or assembled physical collections, which have in turn prompted international debate and research into issues of documentation, longer-term preservation and access. The challenges of the medium are many: hardware, software, operating systems, and browsers are threatened by obsolescence and supercession. There are also the difficulties of documenting such works, of reasserting their interactivity, and of recreating a specific context or environment. The Internet itself is an unstable medium subject to constant change and its own potential vulnerabilities. More recently, some museum and private collections have begun to acquire born digital artworks and face the task of developing plans or strategies for their long-term care. For the majority, however, acquisitions remain highly selective: what they can commit to is dictated by the long-term functionality, resource and maintenance implications that such artworks, particularly those with a ‘network-dependency’ or interactive element, can bear. The question of what is possible – across a range of collecting contexts - is only just being determined. Benefits from Attendance One of the major aims for this workshop is to provide an international forum to exchange information about born digital art collecting and archiving practices across different institutional and national contexts. This workshop is aimed at all people involved in the 1/3 ArtHist.net creation and management of born digital art. The aims of this seminar are: · To identify some of the challenges that the ‘permanent retention’ of born digital artworks, particular those that are ‘network-dependent’ pose. · To identify key platforms, operations, users, contexts of presentation and experiences with born digital art · To consider selected current collecting policies for born digital artworks · To review selected current accessioning and documentation procedures for born digital art · To consider selected current storage and long-term access/care procedures for born digital art · To identify precedents for standards in collecting/accessioning/storage/long-term care policies and procedures across the ‘permanent retention contexts’ Seminar Format During this workshop, presentations will explore the preservation of born digital art from the perspective of both the artist and the collecting organisation. A panel discussion will examine issues arising from the presentations, such as developing specific collecting policies, addressing technical issues, managing born digital resources, and enabling long-term access to born digital art. During this session, workshop participants will have the opportunity to share their own experiences. Speakers include -Frances McKee (artist, CCA) -Susan Collins (artist, senior lecturer, UCL, London) -Sandra Fauconnier (archivist, V2, Rotterdam) -Peter Ride (CARTE, University of Westminster) -Nikolett Eross (c3, Budapest) -Simon Faithfull (artist, lecturer, UCL, London) -Oliver Grau (Database of Virtual Art, Humboldt University, Berlin) Venue This workshop will be held at the Centre for Contemporary Arts (CCA). This stunning building is located in the heart of Glasgow’s city centre. The CCA have generously invited participants to attend the opening of their latest exhibition on Icelandic art following the close of the workshop. The opening will feature live performances, music and refreshments. ERPANET is extremely grateful to the CCA for its generous support in the delivery of this event. For more information, please see http://www.cca-glasgow.com. Registration 2/3 ArtHist.net To Register on-line, go to http://www.erpanet.org/events/2004/glasgowart/index.php. The registration fee is 65 GBP and will include lunch. For more information contact [email protected] or [email protected] Reference: CONF: Preservation of Born Digital Art (Glasgow 8 Oct 04). In: ArtHist.net, Aug 27, 2004 (accessed Oct 2, 2021), <https://arthist.net/archive/26578>. 3/3.