Tom Ensom and Patricia Falcão
Electronic Media Review, Volume Seven: 2021-2022
ABSTRACT
Since they started entering the Tate collection in the early 2000s, software-based artworks have required new modes of conservation through their contingencies on bespoke software programs, complex systems of interconnected components and a rapidly changing technological landscape. It has become clear that rates of acquisition are accelerating, and the processes of acquisition and preservation, which were initially seen as individual research projects, had to become part of the day-to-day work of time-based media conservators at Tate. In 2017 the Time-based Media Conservation team at Tate started the Software-based Art Preservation Project, still ongoing, with two primary aims:
- Define standardised workflows and processes for the preservation of our software-based artworks, including documentation, disk imaging and emulation.
- Systematically apply these to the existing software-based artworks in the collection, while taking the opportunity to identify any works requiring treatment.
The project has taken insights from a decade of collaborative research under- taken by Tate’s Time-based Media Conservation and Collection Care Research teams as its starting point, supplemented by a growing body of related research from colleagues around the world. This paper will describe our work to develop and standardise our internal best practices for the care of software-based art, discussing the approach taken and introducing procedures developed for future software-based artwork acquisitions at Tate. We will also reflect on lessons learnt along the way, particularly around pragmatism and institutional resources, and some of the questions that we have yet to answer.
AUTHORS
Tom Ensom
Tate, London, United Kingdom
Patricia Falcão
Tate, London, United Kingdom