[ISEA2022] Paper: Paula Fernández Valdés & Regina Rivas Tornes — Setting limits in preservation strategies from the stage of acquisition: a feasibility approach for Media Art

Abstract

Short paper. Remote presentation, date: June 10

Keywords: Media Art Installations, Obsolescence, Change, Preservation, Feasibility

The work supports a new approach to Media Art preservation in museums that focuses on analysing the feasibility of the artwork before collecting it, in order to facilitate the ulterior conservation of this fragile heritage.

Over the past decades, the development of technological equipment and the arrival of the Digital Era have generated numerous artistic products that integrate technological devices, and that have lesser durability than other traditional cultural objects, such as Media Art Installations. The field of Art Preservation, responsible for safeguarding the collective knowledge heritage artefacts contain, is facing new challenges, and the solution lies in applying innovative strategies all the way through the life of the artwork, starting in the acquisition stages. What should we as art conservators consider when performing feasibility analyses in the acquisition of technological artwork? This paper analyses the fragility of this art-science intersection with the aim of establishing preservation strategies that ensure the viability of this type of artworks in an institutional environment.

For the video recording of the presentation see: Amalia Creus  — Processes and infrastructures in creative and artistic products

  • Paula Fernández Valdés (ES). Degree in Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage from the Complutense University of Madrid and Master in Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage (2017-2019) from the Universitat Politècnica de València. She is pursuing a PhD in Art: Production and Research with a Predoctoral Grant (FPI) at the same University and is part of the MICIU I+D+i EShID Project at Castilla la Mancha University and the Education Innovation Project Between Artists and Restorers. New ways of interaction and knowledge exchange II at Complutense University of Madrid. Her research focuses on preserving technological art and copyright issues, as she is also pursuing her second Degree in Law. She is currently an intern at LIMA Platform for Media Art in Amsterdam, working on video art and digital art preservation. https://www.linkedin.com/in/paula-fern%C3%A1ndez-vald%C3%A9s-910841165