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VARIABLE MEDIA NETWORK
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We need artists—their information, their support,
and above all their creativity—to outwit oblivion
and obsolescence.
!
!
– Jon Ippolito,
Associate Curator of Media Arts, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum,
New York
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DEFINITION
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An initiative by creators, museum and media consultants based from
the Gugenheim Museum’s efforts to preserve its vast collection of
multi-media art
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A proposal based on identifying ways that creative works may outlast
their original medium utilizing unconventional strategies or
approaches
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VMN is recognized for its ground-breaking methodology, which seeks
to define acceptable levels of change within any given art object and
documents ways in which a sculpture, installation, or conceptual work
may be altered (or not) for the sake of preservation without losing that
work’s essential meaning.
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WHAT ARE VARIABLE MEDIA?
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These are works of art in ephemeral or non-traditional formats,
including digital (audio-visual and internet) and biological media,
performances and installations.
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WHAT ARE VARIABLE MEDIA?
Video Ephemera and Audio Ephemera
“Printed ephemera gave way to audio and video ephemera in the
twentieth century. ... These present even more of a preservation problem
than printed materials. Although seldom made available for libraries,
when videotapes are acquired for archival preservation they are found to
be made on low quality tape, poorly processed, and damaged from abuse
by users.”
!
Source: http://www.ephemerasociety.org/articles/lla-phillips.html
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The Challenge of Variable Media:
the need for a tool for preservation
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The physical fragility of film, the changes in broadcast media, the interactive
experience of the Internet, the expansion of digital media: a rapidly transforming,
mutating media environment challenges us as we seek to maintain a fundamental
intention—preserving the integrity of an artwork.
- John G. Hanhardt, Senior Curator of Film and Media Arts, Solomon R. Guggenheim
Museum, New York
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Because these works don’t self-record, self-document, or exist in a
stable medium, preservation is an interpretive act.
- Richard Rinehart, Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
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We need innovative tools for documenting, discovering, and defending
culture born at the turn of the millennium from the ravages of
obsolescence and obscurity.
- Forging the Future
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Obsolescence
“In case of equipment obsolescence,
the Walker may find it necessary to
replace vintage equipment with newer
components. If this can be done in a
discreet manner (i.e., bypassing
original equipment), is this acceptable
to the artist?”
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- Steve Dietz,
Curator of New Media, Walker Art
Center, Minneapolis on the
center’s formal acquisitions policy
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Digital Decay
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The system doesn’t really work, it
can’t be fixed, no one understands
it, no one is in charge of it, it can’t
be lived without, and it gets worse
every year.
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- Stewart Brand, Clock of the Long
Now (1999)
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Essence of the Work of Art
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When an artwork is restored we attempt to reconcile the change with
what we know about the meaning of the work.
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- Carol Stringari, Senior Conservator, Contemporary Art, Solomon R. Guggenheim
Museum, New York
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Integrity in reproduction and preservation:
the fundamental intention
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How does one choose an appropriate format for migration and still
retain the integrity of the original?
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- Carol Stringari, Senior Conservator, Contemporary Art, Solomon R. Guggenheim
Museum, New York
+ THE VARIABLE MEDIA
PARADIGM
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What is the goal of the initiative?
The variable media paradigm encourages creators to define their work independently
from medium so that the work can be translated once its current medium is obsolete.
This requires creators to envision acceptable forms their work might take in new
mediums, and to pass on guidelines for recasting work in a new form once the original
has expired.
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Source: http://www.variablemedia.net/e/index.html
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The Variable Media Network aims to establish a process and means to address
artworks created across a variety of media and materials, to determine protocols and
initiatives that will bring a flexible approach to the preservation of a range of creative
practices.
A key aspect of the Variable Media Network is the notion of training conservators or
specialized personnel to deal with complex issues within the museum environment.
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Source: Permanece Through Change: The Variable Media Approach by the Gugenheim Museum
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METHODS AND TOOLS
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Variable Media Questionnaire:
the Key Element
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First developed in 2000 by Jon Ippolito, associate curator at the Guggenheim Museum,
is an interactive form linked to a larger database, which is designed to capture
behavioral information about digital, performative, and other variable media artworks
upon their acquisition by a museum.
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Encourages creators to identify their works of art to be independent from medium but
rather define their works according to behaviours of functional components
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Helps by recording opinions on how to preserve creative works when their current
medium becomes obsolete
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Not a set of rules
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Allows users to compare multiple viewpoints on the same artwork
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These qualifications make the variable media kernel less a set of commandments
carved in stone than a matrix of preferences rendered in a fluid digital form, the
better to be shared freely among art makers and preservationists.
+ Variable Media Questionnaire:
the Key Element
http://variablemediaquestionnaire.net/demo/
+ Variable Media Questionnaire:
Goals
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To specifically define ‘what it is’ and ‘what is needed’
when the museum is acquiring a work of this kind
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To assist artists and museum professionals in
understanding which attributes of an artwork may
change and how best to make those changes when
future re-creations necessitate them
+ Variable Media Questionnaire:
Behaviors
Contained
Covers glazing; coating; support/structure/mounting; frame; acceptable change in surface.
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Jan Dibbets
A White Wall, 1971. Photo collage
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John F. Simon, Jr.
Color Panel v. 1.0, 1999. Digital sculpture
+ Variable Media Questionnaire:
Behaviors
Installed
Covers space; boundary; access; lighting; sound; security; base/s; distribution of
elements; display equipment for inert elements; architectural placement;
equipment visibility.
Felix Gonzalez-Torres
Untitled (Public Opinion), 1991. Interactive
installation
Nam June Paik
TV Garden, 1974. Video installation
+ Variable Media Questionnaire:
Behaviors
Performed
Covers props; set; costumes; performers; number of performers; format of instructions;
instructions apply to…; documentation of new performances; audience location; boundary;
synchronization of performance.
Robert Morris
Site, 1964. Performance
Meg Webster
Stick Spiral, 1986. Installation
+ Variable Media Questionnaire:
Behaviors
Interactive
Covers user input; interaction mechanism; maintenance.
Felix Gonzalez-Torres
Untitled (Public Opinion), 1991. Interactive
installation
Mark Napier
Net Flag, 2001. Web site
+ Variable Media Questionnaire:
Behaviors
Reproduced
Covers relationship to artist master; location of master; status of master; acceptable
fabricators and vendors; acceptable submasters or exhibition copy; permission to create
submaster; fate of exhibition copy; permission to compress/digitize.
Stan Douglas
Der Sandmann, 1995. Film installation
Robert Smithson
Hotel Palenque, 1969. Slide installation
+ Variable Media Questionnaire:
Behaviors
Duplicable
Covers inert material; physical attributes of inert material; authorized
fabricators and vendors; materials duplicated according to…; electronic
equipment and hardware; fate of exhibition copies.
Felix Gonzalez-Torres
Untitled (Public Opinion), 1991. Interactive
installation
Jenny Holzer
Untitled (Selections from Truisms, ...), 1989.
Electronic installation.
+ Variable Media Questionnaire:
Behaviors
Encoded
Covers screen resolution; color palette; external data source; fonts;
source openness.
Mark Napier
Net Flag, 2001. Web site
Jenny Holzer
Untitled (Selections from Truisms, ...), 1989.
Electronic installation.
+ Variable Media Questionnaire:
Behaviors
Networked
Covers exhibition context; external data sources; non-standard
protocol; minimum bandwidth; network model.
Mark Napier
Net Flag, 2001. Web site
+ Variable Media Questionnaire:
Strategies
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Storage
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Emulation
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To emulate the work might be to take advantage of unequal distribution of Internet access;
different sites get different readership.
Seeing Double
Migration
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To store the work would be—in the metaphoric sense—to prevent simultaneous
exhibitions. There is one copy and everyone accesses that one copy, which is possible with
the Internet.
To migrate, or bring the work up to date, might be to give a clone of a project but to keep
all of the changes and additions made to the work.
Reinterpretation
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To reinterpret the artwork might mean using a data loop to create and then force integrity
between two clones.
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Forging the Future: New Tools for
Variable Media Preservation
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A consortium of museums and cultural
heritage organizations dedicated to
exploring, developing, and sharing
new vocabularies and tools for cultural
preservation
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Source: http://forging-the-future.net/
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Forging the Future:
The three practical and complementary tools:
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Franklin Furnace Database
(FFDB)
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Designed for cataloging variable
media artworks and events
contained in small to midsize
collections of presenting arts
organizations
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Forging the Future:
The three practical and complementary tools:
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Digital Asset Management
Database (DAMD)
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Manages digital metadata that is
directly relational to all the tools
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Forging the Future:
The three practical and complementary tools:
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Variable Media Questionnaire
(VMQ)
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Contains data and metadata
necessary to migrate, re-create,
and preserve cataloged variable
media objects
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Forging the Future:
The three practical and complementary tools:
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Additional tools:
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Media Art Notation System
(MANS)
This is designed to facilitate
interchange between the three
Forging the Future tools as
well as the related products of
third party researchers.
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Forging the Future:
The three practical and complementary tools:
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Additional tools:
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Metaserver
In place of a centralized
archive, the Forging the Future
alliance is building a
"metaserver" that points to
instances of particular works
as they transition from one
version, medium, or context to
the next.
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Forging the Future:
The three practical and complementary tools:
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Additional tools:
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VocabWiki
The Vocabulary Resource for Descriptive Cataloging of
New Media Art
This merges vocabularies developed by two arts
organizations, Franklin Furnace and Rhizome, to describe
new media artworks. The database is comprised of terms
defined specifically for the description of performance
and ephemeral installation art.
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http://forging-the-future.net/vocabwiki/index.php?
title=Main_Page
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Forging the Future:
Online Presentation
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The Role of Artists and Conservators in
Variable Media Preservation
It’s up to artists to describe their work using these
characteristics and effects based from the Variable
Media Questionnaire, which tomorrow’s curators
and restorers must respect and reproduce.
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Source: The Guggenheim Museum and the Daniel Langlois Foundation
Marina Abramović: The Artist Is Present / Institute For Long Duration Performance
Art
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CASE STUDIES
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The need for practices and emulation
experiments:
Case studies helped explore and further expand the Variable Media concept.
Among the works examined were a video installation by Nam June Paik, a
film performance by Ken Jacobs, a photo collage by Jan Dibbets, an
interactive installation by Felix Gonzalez-Torres, and an on-line work by Mark
Napiers.
+ WHO ARE THE
MEMBERS OF VMN?
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Members of VMN
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Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
• www.guggenheim.org/variablemedia
• The most ambitious and widely known
preservation project undertaken by the
Guggenheim Museum is its Variable Media
Initiative, a nontraditional, new preservation
strategy that emerged in 1999 from the
museum’s efforts to preserve media-based and
performative works in its permanent
collection, and which later spawned the
Variable Media Network (VMN).
• Guggenheim’s Film and Media Arts Program’s
goal: to engage the museum as a critical and
intellectual space able to embrace diverse
histories of the moving image while
responding to new developments within
artistic practice globally.
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Members of VMN
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The Daniel Langlois Foundation for Art, Science,
and Technology, Montreal
• www.fondation-langlois.org
• Founded in 1997 the Daniel Langlois
Foundation for Art, Science, and Technology
is a private, charitable organisation with an
international scope.
• In 2002, the Daniel Langlois Foundation
teamed up with the Guggenheim Museum to
develop and further promote the variable
media concept. One aim of this partnership is
to forge an international network of
organizations with a common goal of devising
useful methods and tools. To this end, several
projects, events and publications have been or
will be launched.
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Members of VMN
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Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archives
• www.bampfa.berkeley.edu/ciao/avant_garde.html/art.berkeley.edu
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Franklin Furnace Archive, Inc., New York
• www.franklinfurnace.org
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Performance Art Festival+Archives, Cleveland
• www.performance-art.org
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Rhizome.org, New York
• www.rhizome.org rhizome.org/artbase/report.htm
• rhizome.org/artbase/policy.htm
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Walker Art Center, Minneapolis
• www.walkerart.org adaweb.walkerart.org
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VMN Timeline
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1998
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1999
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Preserving the Immaterial, a conference on VM by the Gugenheim Museum, New York
2002
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Daniel Langlois Foundation teamed up with the Gugenheim to develop and further promote the VMC
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The Foundation created a research fellowship
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A website was created along with an experimental database
2003
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VM Network
2001
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VM concept was developed by Ippolito
A book, Permanence Through Change, which based from the VM conference, was published
2004
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March 19 – May 16: Seeing Double exhibition
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May 8: Echoes of Art symposium
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Thank You.