[ISEA2024] Paper: Ze Gao, Zheng Wang & Xiaolin Zhang — Documenting the Ephemeral: Strategies for Preserving Early Internet Art

Abstract

Keywords:
Archiving, Internet art, ephemeral nature, preservation and documentation, digital art Introduction

The Internet has become one of the primary mediums for contemporary art, yet early Internet-based artworks from the 1990s and early 2000s pose major preservation challenges. Many of these works were inherently ephemeral, designed to exist temporarily or change over time. Additionally, they were created using early web technologies that are now obsolete or incompatible with modern browsers and systems. This paper examines strategies and case studies to preserve early Internet art in a way that maintains its essential experiential and conceptual characteristics. It discusses emulation techniques that recreate obsolete software and hardware environments. It also investigates the migration approaches that update the technical underpinnings of work to function on contemporary systems. Documentation methods such as videos, screenshots, and code archives are also considered. The paper analyzes the attempts by organizations like the Rhizome ArtBase, the Variable Media Network, and individual artists to preserve seminal early Internet artworks like Olia Lialina’s My Boyfriend Came Back from the War (1996) and MTAA’s 1 Year Performance (1996-1997). It assesses successes, failures, and ongoing challenges. Finally, the paper proposes an integrated approach that combines emulation, migration, and documentation strategies. It argues that a multipronged preservation methodology is essential for retaining early Internet works’ technical functionality and conceptual essence. The paper aims to provide strategies and principles for archiving a seminal but endangered area of new media art.

  • Ze Gao is an Artist and Researcher based in Hong Kong and New York. He is a part-time researcher at the Tongji University – MIT Shanghai City Science Lab. He studied Multidisciplinary Fine Arts at the Maryland Institute College of Art and held an MFA in the School of Visual Arts in New York. With a background in image science and art, his research spans different practices and interests, including AI-generated content, human-computer interaction, VR museum and entertainment design. His research has been published at the ACM SIGGRAPH Asia, ACM Multimedia, ACM WWW, ACM DIS, UbiComp, ACM TEI, CHI-PLAY, ISEA, EVA London, etc., mainly in Art and Technologies.
  • Zheng Wang is a curator, scholar, and writer of critical, historical, and creative content. Born in Guilin in 1996 to an Iu-Mien ethnic minority family, Wang grew up in Wuhan, studied in the US for his undergrad and graduate degrees, and currently lives in Singapore. He is a Ph.D. student at the School of Art, Design, and Media, specializing in contemporary art history and theory at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. In 2020, he graduated from Rice University with a bachelor’s degree, double-majoring in Art History and Studio Art. In 2022, he received a master’s in Art Criticism specializing in Aesthetics and Politics from the California Institute of the Arts in Los Angeles. Academically and artistically, Wang is passionate about engaging in comparative and transcultural criticism and curatorial work. He is also a practicing artist in installation and texts.
  • Xiaolin Zang graduated from Peking University, and now she is a PhD student in Art History at the University of Auckland, New Zealand.