{"id":285,"date":"2025-04-09T03:25:06","date_gmt":"2025-04-09T03:25:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/contemporaryartreview\/?page_id=285"},"modified":"2026-03-21T01:42:40","modified_gmt":"2026-03-21T01:42:40","slug":"archeology-of-the-timeline-preservation-considerations-for-digital-process-files","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/contemporaryartreview\/archeology-of-the-timeline-preservation-considerations-for-digital-process-files\/","title":{"rendered":"Archeology of the Timeline: Preservation Considerations for Digital Process Files"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Archeology of the Timeline: Preservation Considerations for Digital Process Files<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Caroline Carlsmith<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Contemporary Art Review, Volume 3 (2023)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Download Article (PDF, 4MB)<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Arqueolog\u00eda de la l\u00ednea de tiempo: consideraciones de preservaci\u00f3n para archivos de procesos digitales<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Caroline Carlsmith<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Contemporary Art Review, Volumen 3 (2023)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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DESCARGAR ART\u00cdCULO (PDF, 4MB)<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Keywords<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

digital preservation, time-based media, Adobe, process files, PDF, layered documents, video art, graphic design, documentation, Final Cut Pro, subscription software, artist interview<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Abstract<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Born-digital artworks, like all digital files, may be subject to loss or change when their native software and hardware updates and original versions cease to be supported. Programs in the Adobe Creative Cloud, including Photoshop, Illustrator, After Effects, and Pre\u00admiere, are ubiquitous in graphic design and visual art. Yet, they are proprietary, subscription-based software, and this poses a preservation problem for process files native to these programs, should they be viewed in an emulated digital environment in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beyond the technical challenges inherent in preserving proprietary formats, the question of whether and how to steward digital process materials is sensitive and context specific. Some artists or designers are willing to make their process materials available for future research, while others prefer to keep their working documents pri\u00advate, either out of concern for potential material piracy or because they believe such access might undermine the impact or conceptual framework of the work itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this article, two case studies are situated within a larger context of conservation ethics and material specificity in time-based media art. The preservation of complex Adobe documents related to the #CombatCovid digital poster series collected by Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, is described alongside video artist Elizabeth Price\u2019s Final Cut Pro process files in which she composes her works. By contrasting the research done by Cooper Hewitt\u2019s curatorial and conservation staff into preserva\u00adtion standards for layered process files with Price\u2019s artistic archival methods, the article offers technical suggestions for contemporary art conservators working with Adobe process files while foregrounding larger questions about the boundaries of born-digital artworks themselves.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Palabras Clave<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

preservaci\u00f3n digital, medios basados en el tiempo, Adobe, archivos de proceso, PDF, documentos en capas, videoarte, dise\u00f1o gr\u00e1fico, documentaci\u00f3n, Final Cut Pro, software de suscripci\u00f3n, entrevista con el artista<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Resumen<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Las obras de arte nacidas digitalmente, como todos los archivos digitales, pueden estar sujetas a p\u00e9rdida o cambio cuando sus actualizaciones de software y hardware nativas y sus versiones originales dejan de ser compatibles. Los programas de Adobe Creative Cloud, incluidos Photoshop, Illustrator, After Effects y Premiere, son omnipresentes en el dise\u00f1o gr\u00e1fico y las artes visuales. Sin embargo, son software bajo licencia que requieren suscripci\u00f3n y esto plantea un problema de preservaci\u00f3n para los archivos que fueron elaborados en estos programas, en caso de que fueran reproduci\u00addos en el futuro en un entorno digital emulado.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

M\u00e1s all\u00e1 de los desaf\u00edos t\u00e9cnicos inherentes a la preser\u00advaci\u00f3n de formatos cerrados que requieren licencia, la cuesti\u00f3n de si se deben gestionar y c\u00f3mo gestionar los materiales de procesos digitales exige reflexi\u00f3n y es espec\u00edfica a su contexto. Algunos artistas o dise\u00f1adores est\u00e1n dispuestos a poner sus materiales de proceso a disposici\u00f3n de futuras investigaciones, mientras que otros prefieren mantener la privacidad de sus documen\u00adtos de trabajo, ya sea por temor a la posible pirater\u00eda de material o porque creen que dicho acceso podr\u00eda socavar el impacto o el marco conceptual de la obra en s\u00ed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

En este art\u00edculo, dos estudios de caso se sit\u00faan dentro de un contexto m\u00e1s amplio de \u00e9tica de la conservaci\u00f3n y especificidad material en el arte medi\u00e1tico basado en el tiempo. La preservaci\u00f3n de complejos documentos de Adobe relacionados con la serie de carteles digitales #Com\u00adbatCovid recopilados por el Museo de Dise\u00f1o del Smithso\u00adnian, Cooper Hewitt, se describe junto con los archivos de proceso Final Cut Pro de la video artista Elizabeth Price en el que ella compone sus obras. Al contrastar la investig\u00adaci\u00f3n realizada por el personal curatorial y de conservaci\u00f3n del Cooper Hewitt sobre los est\u00e1ndares de preservaci\u00f3n para archivos de proceso en capas con los m\u00e9todos del archivo art\u00edstico de Price, el art\u00edculo ofrece sugerencias t\u00e9cnicas para los conservadores de arte contempor\u00e1neo que trabajan con archivos de proceso de Adobe, al tiempo que pone en primer plano preguntas m\u00e1s amplias sobre los l\u00edmites de las propias obras de arte nacidas digitalmente.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Citation<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Carlsmith, Caroline. 2025. \u201cArcheology of the Timeline: Preservation Considerations for Digital Process Files \/ Arqueolog\u00eda de la l\u00ednea de tiempo: consideraciones de preservaci\u00f3n para archivos de procesos digitales.\u201d In Contemporary Art Review, Vol. 3<\/em>. Edited by Jessica Walthew, Gabrielle Crowther, and Austin Anderson. Washington, DC: AIC. 1\u201313.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Archeology of the Timeline: Preservation Considerations for Digital Process Files Caroline Carlsmith Contemporary Art Review, Volume 3 (2023) Arqueolog\u00eda de la l\u00ednea de tiempo: consideraciones de preservaci\u00f3n para archivos de procesos digitales Caroline Carlsmith Contemporary Art Review, Volumen 3 (2023) Keywords digital preservation, time-based media, Adobe, process files, PDF, layered documents, video art, graphic design, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":349,"featured_media":299,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-285","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/contemporaryartreview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/285","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/contemporaryartreview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/contemporaryartreview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/contemporaryartreview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/349"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/contemporaryartreview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=285"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/contemporaryartreview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/285\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/contemporaryartreview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/299"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/contemporaryartreview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}