According to a profile in the Wall Street Journal (“An Archivist Still Wired for Analog“, by Steve Dollar, December 22-23, 2012), seventy-one year old Chi-tien Lui, owner of CTL Electronics in the TriBeCa section of New York City since 1968, is one of the few people who still has the skills and knowledge required to restore video sculptures like those created by Nam June Paik from the 1960s until his death in 2006 (many of which are now on display in a retrospective at the Smithsonian American Art Museum).
It is unrealistic to expect conservation training programs to devote much course time to such a small and specialized group of art works. What will become of these works when replacement equipment is no longer available and Mr. Lui and his few colleagues are not here to execute custom modifications to the equipment that is?
What will become of video art when there is no one let who can restore it?
Q: Is conservation more an art form or a science? In other words, does a conservator need to be an artist or scientist, or both?