[ISEA2010] Paper: Tiziana Caianiello & Julia Giebeler – Conserving Interactivity: imai Case Study on Bill Seaman’s Exchange Fields

Abstract

The authentic preservation of interactive installations and their appropriate re-installation are challenging because of the basic conflict between the preservation of the equipment and the preservation of the functionality of the installation. Here this conflict is discussed exemplarily for Bill Seaman’s interactive video installation Exchange Fields. The installation was developed for the exhibition vision.ruhr at the Zeche Zollern in Dortmund 2000, and acquired by the Museum Ostwall, Dortmund. Only ten years later the museum staff had changed, so detailed knowledge about Exchange Fields got lost.

  • Since 2007 Tiziana Caianiello (DE), Ph.D. in Art History, has been Gerda Henkel research fellow at the imai – intermedia art institute Düsseldorf, where she has conducted the research project Konkretionen des Flüchtigen (Materializations of the Fugitive) on conservation and presentation of media art installations. Since 2009 she is working as a research associate at the ZERO foundation, Düsseldorf.
  • Julia Giebeler (DE) obtained her diploma in paintings andsculpture conservation at the Cologne Institute of ConservationSciences / University of Applied Sciences in 2009. Her diploma thesis was about Interactive Video Installations. Documentation and Re-Installation on the example of Bill Seaman´s work ‘Exchange Fields’. She currently is conservator trainee of contemporary outdoor sculptures at the Museum Abteiberg, Mönchengladbach, DE.

Full text (PDF) p.  152-154