{"id":655,"date":"2019-03-02T17:27:32","date_gmt":"2019-03-02T22:27:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/emg-review\/?page_id=655"},"modified":"2019-03-02T17:27:32","modified_gmt":"2019-03-02T22:27:32","slug":"lozano-hemmer","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/emg-review\/volume-4-2015-2016\/lozano-hemmer\/","title":{"rendered":"Best Practices for Conservation of Media Art from an Artist\u2019s Perspective"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Rafael Lozano-Hemmer
The Electronic Media Review, Volume Four: 2015-2016<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Abstract<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

For\nmost artists I know \u201cart conservation\u201d is a troubling affair: we are already\ntoo busy maintaining operations as it is; we think of our work as a living\nentity, not as a fossil; we are often unsure if a project is finished; and we\nsnub techniques that may help us document, organize or account for our work as\nsomething that stifles our experimentation and creative process. In addition,\nespecially when we are resentful that institutions are not collecting and\npreserving our work in the first place, we reject the whole concept of an art\ncollection. Agreeing with critical historians for whom collecting and\npreserving contem\u00adporary art represents an obsessive-compulsive, \u201cvampiric\u201d\nculture of suspended animation and speculation that is grounded in a neo-colonial,\nostentatious, identity-based drive: Nietzsche\u2019s will to power<\/em> mixed with Macpherson\u2019s possessive individualism<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For\nthis text, let us assume you are already at peace with the contradiction that\nis conservation: you are now interested in both creating the work and\noverseeing its death or zombification. Perhaps, despite being a staunch\ndemocratic socialist, you now have your own art collection. Or maybe you have\nmet a few collectors who take risks with you, acquire your work and help keep\nyour studio afloat financially. Most importantly, espe\u00adcially if you are an\ninsecure megalomaniac like me, you do not want to disappear from history, like\nso many great artists who are not collected by important museums. So here we\nare, thinking about the topic of conservation in media art. As you know, there\nis a plethora of existing initiatives to preserve media artworks, but these are\nalways from the perspective of the institutions that collect them. While most\ninstitutional programs include excellent artist-oriented components like\ninterviews and questionnaires, the programs are all a posteriori<\/em>, almost forensic, as they look at the work in retrospect,\nas a snapshot of time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This\ntext is written to outline what artists may choose to do on the subject in\norder to (1) simplify our life in the long run, (2) generate income, and (3)\ntake ownership of the way our work will be presented in the future. I welcome\nvariations, additions, and comments. Yes, it is unfair for the artist to have\nto worry about the conservation of their work. Now let us get on with it. An introductory\nexcerpt from Best Practices for Conservation\nof Media Art from an Artist\u2019s Perspective<\/em> at: https:\/\/github.com\/antimodular\/Best-practices-for-conservation-of-media-art<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rafael Lozano-Hemmer
Artist
Rafael Lozano-Hemmer Studio<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rafael Lozano-HemmerThe Electronic Media Review, Volume Four: 2015-2016 Abstract For most artists I know \u201cart conservation\u201d is a troubling affair: we are already too busy maintaining operations as it is; we think of our work as a living entity, not as a fossil; we are often unsure if a project is finished; and we snub … Continue reading “Best Practices for Conservation of Media Art from an Artist\u2019s Perspective”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":0,"parent":616,"menu_order":21,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-655","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/emg-review\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/655","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/emg-review\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/emg-review\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/emg-review\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/40"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/emg-review\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=655"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/emg-review\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/655\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/emg-review\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/616"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/emg-review\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}