[ISEA2022] Introduction:Bonnie Mitchell, Jan Searleman, Terry Wong & Wim van der Plas — Introduction to the 2nd Summit on New Media Art Archiving

Introductory Statement

Second Summit on New Media Art Archiving
June 10 to 11, MACBA – Convent dels Àngels

The Second Summit on New Media Art Archiving aims to facilitate critical discourse and collaboration amongst archivists, curators, artists, researchers, and other parties interested in the preservation and online archiving of new media art. This summit will serve as an incubator of innovative ideas, production techniques, and infrastructure development as well as assist in connecting like-minded individuals in an effort to create a unified approach to solving the complex problem of preserving the history of new media art. The Summit is organised by ISEA2022 Barcelona, the ISEA Symposium Archives, and SIGGRAPH History Archive, in cooperation with the Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art (MACBA), FILE Festival archive, ADA Archive of Digital Art and Ars Electronica archive.

After the very successful first Summit on New Media Art Archiving at ISEA2020, the second Summit will take place during ISEA2022 in 10-11 June 2022. It is being organised by ISEA2022 (Spain), ISEA Symposium Archives (NL/USA), and SIGGRAPH History Archive (USA) and in cooperation with the Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art-MACBA, FILE Festival archive (Brasil), the ADA Archive of Digital Art and Ars Electronica archive (both Austria).

The need to preserve the history of the rapidly evolving field of new media arts has spurred the development of a wide variety of new media art archives throughout the world. Museums, cultural and educational institutions, as well as individuals with collections have developed, or are planning to create physical and/or online archives in an effort to preserve important artifacts and document events and creative works. The Second Summit on New Media Art Archiving aims to facilitate critical discourse and collaboration amongst archivists, curators, artists, researchers, and other parties interested in preserving the past. This summit will serve as an incubator of innovative ideas, production techniques, and infrastructure development as well as assist in connecting like-minded individuals in an effort to create a unified approach to solving the complex problem of preserving the history of new media art.

The initiative started with an ISEA roundtable discussion on new media archiving at ISEA2018 in Durban, South Africa followed by a very well-attended roundtable at ISEA2019 in Gwangju, South Korea. The First Summit on New Media Art Archiving was held during ISEA2020, (online from Montreal, Canada) featuring a keynote lecture, paper presentations, and break-out sessions.

Organizing Committee: Bonnie Mitchell, Jan Searleman, Terry Wong and Wim van der Plas.

https://www.macba.cat/en/exhibitions-activities/activities/2nd-summit-new-media-art-archiving