Annet Dekker (ed.): Speculative Scenarios, or What Will Happen to Digital Art in the (Near) Future? (2013)

There is a growing understanding of the use of technological tools for dissemination or mediation in the museum, but artistic experiences that are facilitated by new technologies are less familiar. Whereas the artworks’ presentation equipment becomes obsolete and software updates change settings and data feeds that are used in artworks, the language and theory relating to these works is still being formulated. To better produce, present and preserve digital works, an understanding of their history and the material is required to undertake any in-depth inquiry into the subject.

In an attempt to fill some gaps the authors in this publication discuss digital aesthetics, the notion of the archive and the function of social memory. These essays and interviews are punctuated by three future scenarios in which the authors speculate on the role and function of digital arts, artists and art organisations.

The book is a sequel to Archive2020 – Sustainable Archiving of Born-Digital Cultural Content, edited by Annet Dekker in 2010.

With contributions by Christiane Berndes (Van Abbemuseum), Sarah Cook (CRUMB), Annet Dekker (aaaan.net), Sandra Fauconnier (Museum Boijmans van Beuningen), Olga Goriunova (University of Warwick), Jussi Parikka (University of Southampton), Christiane Paul (Whitney Museum), Richard Rinehart (Samek Art Gallery), Edward Shanken (DXARTS University of Washington), Jill Sterrett (SFMOMA), Nina Wenhart (independent researcher), Layna White (SFMOMA).

Publisher Baltan Laboratories, Eindhoven, August 2013
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License
144 pages

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Virtueel Platform: Born-Digital Kunstwerken in Nederland (2012) [Dutch]

Born-digital kunst maakt een steeds groter deel uit van Nederlandse kunstcollecties. Omdat born-digital kunst andere eisen stelt aan beheer en behoud dan fysieke kunstcollecties, is er behoefte aan meer inzicht in de huidige praktijk en de obstakels die zich daarbij voordoen.

Enkele Nederlandse organisaties die zich bezighouden met deze vraagstukken, Virtueel Platform, Digitaal Erfgoed Nederland (DEN), Stichting Behoud Moderne Kunst (SBMK) en Nederlands Instituut voor Mediakunst (NIMk), hebben gezamenlijk gewerkt aan een onderzoek naar deze specifieke problematiek.

Zij zijn in april 2012 gezamenlijk een nieuw initiatief gestart voor digitale kunst: het Dutch Art Force.

Het onderzoek inventariseert hoeveel born-digital kunstwerken in de collecties aanwezig zijn en beschrijft in welke mate beheer en behoud geregeld zijn. Het resultaat is een aanzet tot een heldere probleemstelling, vergezeld van aanbevelingen.

Tevens is onderzocht of aansluiting op een bestaand internationaal netwerk mogelijk is, of dat een dergelijk netwerk tussen verschillende partijen opgezet moet worden. Het is duidelijk dat de musea met veel vergelijkbare vragen en problemen zitten bij het verzamelen, beheren en presenteren van born-digital kunst.

Daarnaast wordt er door kunstenaars en andere, vaak producerende, organisaties aan interessante oplossingen gewerkt. Hoewel er verschillende belangen spelen, vinden de partijen elkaar in de gedeelde overtuiging van de noodzaak dat er op korte termijn actie ondernomen moet worden om het hedendaagse cultureel erfgoed voor de toekomst veilig te stellen.

Research and text by Annet Dekker
Research assistant: Marleen Wagenaar
Publisher: Virtueel Platform, in collaboration with Digitaal Erfgoed Nederland (DEN), Stichting Behoud Moderne Kunst (SBMK), and Nederlands Instituut voor Mediakunst (NIMk), April 2012
Creative Commons BY-NC License
100 pages

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Annet Dekker (ed.): Archive2020 – Sustainable Archiving of Born-Digital Cultural Content (2010)

The term ’born digital’ is closely related, maybe even synonymous, with the term ‘natively digital’. This term is often used as reference to the object of study in the academic research of the Internet that gives focus to digital methods. In other words, research strategies that follow the specifics of the Internet as a medium. In this context the term refers to digital materials that are specific, and/or born into the Internet, like the link and the tag, and devices, like search engines, and opposed to those materials that have migrated to it, in other words, have been digitally reformatted.

“We have asked several stakeholders from different disciplines to write down their experiences, findings and solutions. These specialists from the area of born-digital preservation and archiving reflect on the current state of affairs in their specific field and identify the most pressing concerns. Established Internet artist Martine Neddam elaborates on the challenges an Internet artist faces over the years, from domain name registration expirations, to database back-ups, recent updates and much more. Researchers and artists Anne Laforet, Aymeric Mansoux and Marloes de Valk explain the benefits of using FLOSS and open standards for preserving born-digital material. Florian Cramer, lecturer at the Piet Zwart Institute in Rotterdam, reflects on the PRINT/pixel international conference that was organized in May 2009, and discusses the issue of digital print material. Departing from the closure of two important advocates for media art preservation – the Daniel Langlois Foundation and the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute – Canadian researcher and writer Caitlin Jones focuses on the issue of responsibility for keeping our media art heritage alive. Gaby Wijers, head of Collection and Conservation at NIMk, Amsterdam and Gabriele Blome, art historian, University of Siegen, Germany, shed light on the first internationally shared online archive GAMA – the Gateway to European Media Art. Australian curator and researcher Lizzie Muller draws attention to the importance of capturing audience experiences when dealing with the preservation of born-digital cultural material. Jeroen van Mastrigt, lecturer at the Art, Media and Technology Faculty of the Utrecht School of the Arts (HKU-KMT) in Hilversum, discusses archiving strategies in gaming.”

Compiled and edited by Annet Dekker
with chapters by Annet Dekker, Martine Neddam, Anne Laforet, Aymeric Mansoux, Marloes de Valk, Florian Cramer, Caitlin Jones, Gabriele Blome, Gaby Wijers, Lizzie Muller, Jeroen van Mastrigt, Maurits van der Graaf, Gerhard Nauta
Publisher Virtueel Platform, Amsterdam, 2010
Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 NL License
ISBN 9789490108045
112 pages

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See also Speculative Scenarios, or What Will Happen to Digital Art in the (Near) Future?, 2013.