virtueel platform (nl)

http://www.virtueelplatform.nl/en/

mission statement:

"Virtual Platform defines e-culture as new developments in the cultural sector arising from cross-pollination between technology and society. Virtueel Platform firmly believes that e-culture makes an essential contribution to cultural, social and economic innovation, and works to strengthen and develop Dutch e-culture at home and abroad."

The InterPares Glossary for Archiving

http://www.interpares.org/book/interpares_book_q_gloss.pdf

The Variable Media Network

Their self description: http://variablemedia.net/e/welcome.html "The Variable Media Network proposes an unconventional new preservation strategy that has emerged from the Guggenheim’s efforts to preserve its world-renowned collection of conceptual, minimalist and video art and that is supported by the Daniel Langlois Foundation for Art, Science, and Technology. The aim of this affiliation is to help build a network of organizations that will develop the tools, methods and standards needed to implement this strategy."

"The variable media paradigm pairs artists with museum and media consultants to provoke comparison of artworks created in ephemeral mediums. The initiative aims to define each of these case studies in terms of medium-independent behaviors and to identify artist-approved strategies for preserving artwork with the help of an interactive questionnaire." Their approach: http://variablemedia.net/e/welcome.html "For artists working in ephemeral formats who want posterity to experience their work more directly than through second-hand documentation or anecdote, the variable media paradigm encourages artists to define their work independently from medium so that the work can be translated once its current medium is obsolete. This requires artists to envision acceptable forms their work might take in new mediums, and to pass on guidelines for recasting work in a new form once the original has expired. Select an option at left to learn more about how this philosophy can be applied to specific cases."

Media Matters (self description)

"The complexity of preserving and migrating the massive amount of material comprising our audiovisual heritage requires a firm understanding of archival concerns and their relation to emerging digital technology. Media Matters draws upon specific industry knowledge and functional expertise in assisting media archives on planning, implementing and optimizing strategies that integrate modern technology with established preservation and access practices. Our consultants' cumulative experience in multiple related areas ensures that all advice, analysis, insight and solutions are well-rounded and cover the full spectrum of possibilities."

http://www.media-matters.net/aboutus.html

The Database of Virtual Art + Mediaarthistories (publication)

http://www.virtualart.at/common/info.do

"The Database of Virtual Art documents the rapidly evolving field of digital installation art. This complex, research-oriented overview of immersive, interactive, telematic and genetic art has been developed in cooperation with established media artists, researchers and institutions. The web-based, cost-free instrument - appropriate to the needs of process art - allows individuals to post material themselves. Compiling video documentation, technical data, interfaces, displays, and literature offers a unique answer to the needs of the field. All works can be linked with exhibiting institutions, events and bibliographical references. Over time the richly interlinked data will also serve as a predecessor for the crucial systematic preservation of this art."

http://www.virtualart.at/common/startWork.do

http://www.mediaarthistory.org/pub/mediaarthistories.html

http://www.mediaarthistory.org/

MediaArtNet

http://www.medienkunstnetz.de/concept/

"Media Art Net www.medienkunstnetz.de

• Objectives
  Media art—by definition multimedia, time-based or process-oriented—cannot be sufficiently mediated in book form. Mainstream art and cultural mediation, still being primarily print-based, do little justice to its specificity. On the other hand, Net-based media have not yet been able to establish platforms that reach more than the usual circle of insiders. Introducing the range of topics related to media and art, «Media Art Net» thus aims at establishing an Internet structure that offers highly qualified content by granting free access at the same time. Tendencies of art and media technology development throughout the twentieth century serve as the background for promoting historic and contemporary perspectives on artistic work in and with the media. A combination of diverse representational modes will offer a condensed, attractively presented multimedia focus for the interested 'surfer,' as well as profusely documented in depth information for users specifically involved in research. The main objective is, therefore, to establish theoretically and audio-visually convincing forms of relationships and references that cross the boundaries of genre. A consistently bilingual version (German/English) further transmits the international character of this undertaking.
• Access
  «Media Art Net» foremost promotes topical cross references offering various access points:
  • specific: the classic index and search engine based on a complex structure of database links
  • the exploratory approach: via visual summaries
  • the artistic perspective: as it emerges in newly commissioned Net projects by Blank&Jeron, Ismael Celis, Daniela Alina Plewe and others
  • scientific-historic aspect: as formulated in topical essays by competent authors
• Topics
  An initial step is the exemplary survey of historic and current positions and contexts of media art. In a second phase, exploring eight thematic topics locates seminal interfaces between media and art. A network of curators presents a variety of approaches and contexts:
  • Aestethics of the Digital MECAD, Barcelona, Claudia Giannetti
  • Image-Sound-Relations HGB, Leipzig, Dieter Daniels
  • Cyborg Bodies HGKZ, Zürich, Yvonne Volkart
  • Generative Tools IMG, Mainz, Tjark Ihmels
  • Photo/Byte HGB Leipzig
  • Art and Cinematography HfBK, Dresden, Gregor Stemmrich
  • Mapping and Text ZKM, Karlsruhe, Rudolf Frieling
  • Public Sphere_s ZKM, Karlsruhe, Steve Dietz"

netzspannung.org

http://netzspannung.org/archive/

"ARCHIV-INTERFACES

Browsen durch die Datenbank von netzspannung.org

Zentraler Bestandteil von netzspannung.org ist das öffentlich zugängliche Archiv. Es umfasst zahlreiche medienkünstlerische Arbeiten, Projekte aus der IT-Forschung, sowie medientheoretische und kunstwissenschaftliche Vorträge in Form von Text-, Bild- und Videodarstellungen. Im Archiv finden sich redaktionell bearbeitete Inhalte und Beiträge der Community.

netzspannung.org folgt dem Verständnis, dass Kontextualisierung und Visualisierung entscheidende Faktoren für die Erschließung und Aneignung von Wissen sind. Daher bieten die Archiv-Interfaces alternative Zugänge zur Datenbank von netzspannung.org.

Classic View Das Classic-View-Interface stellt die Inhalte der Datenbank in Listenform dar. Dabei ist die Bildinformation ein wesentlicher Bestandteil und unterstützt einen visuellen Zugang zu den Inhalten der Datenbank. Die Inhalte (Projektbeschreibungen, Veranstaltungen, Artikel) können nach unterschiedlichen Kriterien geordnet und gefiltert werden. › Zur Classic View

Archiv-Browser Der Archiv-Browser bietet einen Überblick über alle Inhalte der Datenbank. Sie sind nach unterschiedlichen Kategorien (Personen, Inhalte, Schlagworte, Neuste Einträge) geordnet, in Indices zusammengefasst und in alphabetischen Listen dargestellt. So können sich die NutzerInnen beispielsweise einen Überblick über alle im Archiv geführten Personen verschaffen oder die Datenbankinhalte gruppiert nach Schlagworten durchsehen. › Zum Archiv-Browser

Randomizer Das Randomizer-Interface generiert automatisch bei jedem Ladevorgang eine zufällige Auswahl von 30 Bildern, die jeweils auf einen Eintrag in der Datenbank verweisen. Es bietet einen ausschließlich visuellen und intuitiven Zugang zum Archiv. › Zum Randomizer

Semantic Map Die Semantic Map stellt das Archiv in einer Übersichtskarte dar, die die Datenbankeinträge von netzspannung.org nach semantischen Kriterien strukturiert und visualisiert. Die Semantic Map bietet neue Möglichkeiten, semantische Bezüge zwischen Inhalten aus verschiedenen Disziplinen zu entdecken. Da das Interface auf einer Textanalyse beruht, wird für deutsche und englische Texte jeweils eine eigene Karte zur Verfügung gestellt. Die Inhalte der beiden Karten unterschieden sich, da viele Datenbankeinträge nur in einer Sprache vorliegen."

Daniel Langlois Foundation + Docam

http://www.fondation-langlois.org/

www.fondation-langlois.org/html/e/page.php?NumPage=96

mandate:
"Created in the spring of 1997 through a donation from Daniel Langlois, the Daniel Langlois Foundation for Art, Science, and Technology is a private, non-profit charitable organisation with international activities.

The Foundation aims to further artistic and scientific knowledge and understanding. Through its actions, it seeks to bring art and science closer together within a technological context. On the one hand, the Foundation nurtures a critical awareness of the impact of technology on human beings and their natural and cultural environments. On the other hand, it promotes the exploration of aesthetics suited for environments shaped by human beings.

The Foundation's programs are designed to further learning among individuals, groups and organisations in order to promote new knowledge and new uses of digital media and information technology.

For the Foundation, the concept of knowledge is based on interactions among researchers, artists, scientists and other individuals, as well as organisations who are both the source and recipients of various forms of knowledge. It therefore also seeks to promote the emergence of knowledge founded on local practices that contribute to the growth and well-being of people in their communities and milieu."

++++

http://www.docam.ca/en/?p=28

"DOCAM’s main objective is to develop new methodologies and tools to address the issues of preserving and documenting digital, technological and electronic works of art. Over the project’s five-year mandate, numerous case studies will be conducted that will focus on documentary collections and conserving works of art featuring technological content.

Museums of modern and contemporary art today are facing a number of new challenges that have surfaced with the recent surge in works of art that feature technological components. These works deteriorate as their original elements break down, and the context of technological development too often eludes specialists and historians. Created during diverse eras, the works may be analog, digital, mechanical or electronic; they are also often multimedia and comprised of materials that range from machines, software, electronic systems and analog or digital images to traditional (sculpted and pictorial elements) and non-traditional (industrial material and techniques) mixed media. In fact, cultural institutions are grappling with two types of problems. On the one hand, they must create effective strategies to preserve past works of art featuring technological components. On the other hand, they must record, preserve and understand the technologies on which these works were based, with professional rigour as well as an in-depth comprehension of the historical context within which the technologies in question were developed. And these problems are not limited to contemporary art and museums. They are also found in culture industries, public heritage institutions, and institutions of higher education that have amassed collections of teaching or research material over recent decades.

This situation becomes that much more perplexing when one realizes that curators, art historians and conservators have not been adequately trained to deal with the new problems surrounding the documentation and preservation of works featuring technological, electronic or digital components. Their education in this regard is insufficient, because only a handful of art history and conservation programs in Canada focus on this reality. Numerous research projects are being conducted in the archival management domain on the preservation of electronic documents, but very few such projects exist in the specific field of art history and conservation. Standards and indeed a descriptive vocabulary for such artistic works are lacking and do not allow for precise and adequate documentation of these works. Historical documentation is generally rare and poorly preserved, and the Centre for Research and Documentation (CR+D) at the Daniel Langlois Foundation for Art, Science and Technology is one of the few places in the world to document the field of electronic and digital art."

V2 Archive + Capturing Unstable Media

http://framework.v2.nl/archive/general/default.xslt

"From March to December 2003, the archive team of V2_Organisation (a center for culture and technology in Rotterdam, the Netherlands) has conducted research on the documentation aspects of the preservation of electronic art activities -- or Capturing Unstable Media --, an approach between archiving and preservation.

For this purpose, two major case studies were investigated in depth -- both are projects that were co-developed at V2_Lab, the interdisciplinary workspace of V2_Organisation. The case studies were

• whisper by Thecla Schiphorst and Susan Kozel, a project related to wearable technologies, performance and the body;
• DataCloud 2.0 and previous and later DataClouds; projects that involve web-based 2D or 3D visualizations of complex information structures.

Based on the findings from these case studies, a series of recommendations were formulated in the following areas:

• documentation strategies for electronic art activities;
• formal modeling and metadata;
• archival interoperability.

Furthermore, a number of technical realizations were implemented, including a public, web-based portal for V2_Archive and a new technical framework for the archive, based on XML and RDF technologies."

AktiveArchive (CH)

their mission/concept:

"Intentions and Objectives
ActiveArchives is concerned with electronic, time-and-space-related artworks:

• conducting research on those which have been forgotten,
• restoring those which are acutely endangered,
• conserving those which are no longer topical but still functional,
• registering and documenting those which have just been created.

High Technological Standards but Accelerated Ageing
Electronic artworks of analogue or digital nature have broadened the understanding and self-image of artistic production, and have thus changed them. The traditional artistic skills have been expanded by media and communication strategies which are based on technology. Contemporary artworks are based increasingly on audiovisual, electronic, and information technologies, and so make use of the most demanding technical standards of their time. Thus, the electronic artwork is also subject to the conditions and contradictions of its time: rapid change and renewal are characteristic of its production, whereas its recognition, recollection, consolidation, and traditionalisation are forms of deceleration, which seem merely to impede the dynamic quality of advanced technology.

Increase of Value and Restoration Reality
Within the past ten years electronic artworks have experienced a substantial increase in value and popularity. Museums and archives are confronted with new problems: though they have long used information technology as a tool, they are perplexed when they encounter collection objects which are themselves in a technological shell. Many videos have been lost forever, while others are in miserable condition. Curators are often confronted with the unpleasant alternative of deactivating installations or of modifying them in such a way that their authentic character is falsified: Such inadequate "modernisation" can result from ignorance of the historical dependence of the artwork, but also from the lack of appropriate conservation strategies. Five to ten years after a work has been created it becomes very difficult to gain access to certain reproduction units: laser disc players, monitors (even of a common type), crt projectors, and even now LCD projectors. This situation also results from the fact that these works are increasingly sold not as a conglomerate of hardware and software, but only with a limited performance licence, with limits imposed on place and duration of exhibition.

The Electronic Artwork: Material Complexity and a Challenge for Curators, Restorers, and Art Researchers
ActiveArchives understands the electronic artwork as a unified whole, whose individual electrotechnical elements, audiovisual components, and those components made of other materials, must remain united. In addition to audiovisual image production and re-presentation, the material complexity of these works extends from the application of all manner of plastic, wood, and metal to the use of various electrotechnical instruments and electronic elements, to the application of photographic and painting procedures, and even to architectural structures and lighting technology. All of these constituents must be considered with regard to restoration measures, conservation concepts, art historical models of interpretation, and scientific description. Our goal is to make authentic re-performance possible, which, on reflection, gives this term key significance. This undoubtedly new approach is quite different e.g. from the mere transfer of informations to another medium. Of course, digitalising collections is also a crucial subject and area of research for ActiveArchives. Each transfer slightly changes the structure of the image and therefore the original substance, which thus demands the utmost caution in handling the transfer.

Goals and Procedures: Long-Term Perspectives and Institutional Cooperation
The concept of ActiveArchives comprises not only restoration measures and their development in the field of electronic art, but also scientific registration and interpretation of the artwork. ActiveArchives conducts research on artworks, secures them, and makes them accessible in an appropriate form: integral, partial, or as documentation. The forms of this accessibility will, in some cases, have to be developed, as will the inventory parameters. The resulting secondary information will also be stored and made accessible. ActiveArchives combines technological, art historical, and restoration information, and also conducts its own research in these fields. The findings are passed on to involved and interested institutions, such as museums, collections, research institutes, and to artists. They are also dispersed in education and publication to (future) restorers, artists, and art researchers, and to internet-based projects.

As works, information, and rights dispersed here and there are already available, it is indispensable that the project will be developed in close cooperation with the appropriate institutions, or that it even emerge from them. The project will be meaningful only if it is organised and guaranteed on a long-term basis. For this reason ActiveArchives seeks cooperation with those institutions which are most likely to provide continuity. With the works, there is no such choice: the owners, and possibly the producers and authors of the works, will be our partners. This form of partnership will be limited to the work which arises in connection with pertinent artworks in collections.

Detailed information and definitions of terms which are inferred from the direct experience of ActiveArchives with relevant media, institutions, and disciplines, and which characterise the self-evident nature of ActiveArchives, can be found in the „Glossary“ ."