Venice, Winter Morning on the Grand Canal, January 2011

Conserving Digital Art for Deep TimeFrancis T. Marchese

Pace University, New York

http://csis.pace.edu/~marchesefmarchese@pace.edu

Giovanni Bellini, Madonna and Child with SS. Nicholas, Peter, Mark, and Benedict, 1488. Tempera on panel, S. Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, Venice

Challenge

• Year 2511• Curate show of time-based digital artwork

from 1st decade of 21st century • What kinds of works will be available?• What will be the format of theses works?

Problems: Change and Diversity

• Diversity of programming languages– C/C++, Java, JavaScript, C#, Flash, HTML, XML, Python,

Processing, Perl, and Max/MSP.

• Diversity of development libraries– mobile apps, sound composition, virtual worlds, and computer

games

• Software substrates in continuous flux– operating systems and network protocols evolving, database

formats changing, and globally accessible resources either disappearing or becoming redistributed

• Hardware - guaranteed obsolescence

Digital Art Conservation c. 2011

• Stockpile computer technology - replace when it fails.

• Archive computer programs to durable media.

• Refresh to new storage medium when either it decays or becomes obsolete.

• Attempt to Document artwork.

Digital Art Conservation c. 2511?

• Proceeds from redefinition of artwork’s identity. (Pip Laurenson, Tate Modern, 2006)

• A digital work should be considered as a collection of properties which include: – the artist's instructions– approved installations intended to act as models– an understanding of the context in which the art was

made– the degree to which the artist specifications reflect his

or her practice at the time the art was created. • Hence – Documentation !

Software Engineering (SE)

Artists

Curators Conservators

Installers

Maintainers

MuseumDonors

MuseumDirectors

Art Historians Viewers

Requirements

MaintainableProcess

MaintainableProduct

Stakeholders

SE and Documentation

SE - systematic methodology for creating and maintaining documentation

Documentation : • Intrinsic part of any system• Supports communication & preservation of

system and institutional memory• Works with all stakeholders• Supplies comprehensive information about a

computer system’s:– capabilities, architecture, design details, features, and

limitations

Kinds of DocumentationRequirements • What the artwork is supposed to do – its conceptual foundation.Architecture/Design • What are the essential parts of the system and how do they fit

together. (Usually expressed as diagrams.)Technical • Source code, algorithms, comments within source code.

End User • Manuals (e.g. static documents, hypermedia, training videos, etc.)

for end-user, administrators, and support staff.Supplementary Materials • Anything else (e.g. legal documents, design histories, interviews,

scholarly books, installation plans, drawings, models, documentary videos, websites, etc.)

Determine Requirements

Analyze & Design

BuildTest

Deploy

Evaluate

Adapting the Software Development Lifecycle

• Interactive installation about online dating at MoMA• Sky filled with 100s of pink and blue balloons, each

representing an individual's online dating profile. • Viewers touch individual balloons to reveal personal

information about the dater found inside

I Want You to Want Me (2008) - Jonathan Harris & Sep Kamvar

• Sensor-activated, immersively projected, interactive art installation at the Pace Digital Gallery (NYC).

• Explored transient stories that emerge from our relationships with urban spaces.

• Filled gallery with overlapping videos from 7 projectors, infusing its space with transient sounds.

Trigger (2005) – Jodi Zellen

Which to show in 500 years?

I Want You to Want Me• Distributed architecture• Multiple operating

systems• Several programming

languages & APIs• Unknown data mining

algorithms• Hardware Dependence• No source code

Trigger• Simple architecture• Sufficient documentation• Clear requirements• No source code

Finally: For Future Art Historians• Authorship

– Was it in the hand of the artist, or was it built by others?• Educational/Cultural Context

– Who influenced the artist conceptually or technologically? • Craftsmanship

– How well was the program written and system built? • Aesthetics

– How well conceived and designed is the software? • Development Process

– What were the design strategies used by the artist?• Technical Context

– What were the development tools available at the time the artwork was created?

• Theoretical Foundation– What theories of computing did the artist use?

Conclusions

• Display of digital art at some time in the distant future remains an open problem

• Solution will come from efforts by artists, conservators, and curators

• Software engineering practices allow transformation of conservation practices

• Process will aid digital art scholarship

Future Work

• Engage conservators and curators to integrate SE process into museum acquisition and conservation practice

• Engage digital artists and art educators to investigate how SE methods may be adapted and integrated into digital art education

Thank you !