Matters in Media Art III: Sustaining Digital Video Art

Martina Haidvogl and Peter Oleksik
The Electronic Media Review, Volume Four: 2015-2016

Abstract

Launched in 2005, this collaborative project between the New Art Trust (NAT) and its partner museums—the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA), and Tate—has been designed to help those who collect and keep time-based media artworks. Originally conceived as a consensus-building project for the three partner museums of the NAT, the enduring goal has been to affirm our commitment to time-based media art and artists by developing shared practices for the works’ care and preservation. It has always been the consortium’s hope that if the three museums could come together to agree on emerging stewardship practices, then by sharing these practices online they would be used, improved upon, and refined by larger audiences of artists and collectors. The first two phases of Matters in Media Art—acquisitions and loans—published online in 2005 and 2008 respectively, estab­lished the project’s record of accomplishment as a model for inter-museum exchange. Today we are thrilled to present the third phase in this exciting collaborative project: Sustaining Digital Video Art. This phase ventures to provide recommendations and assistance to collections of all sizes, from museums to artists, galleries, and small private collectors. By providing a comprehensive approach to assessing, managing, and storing digital video art, we hope to support and encourage practices and workflows in an area that is challenging to individuals and large institutions alike. Two representatives of the Matters in Media Art project, Martina Haidvogl (SFMOMA) and Peter Oleksik (MoMA), will present the background of phase III and provide a walk-through of the much anticipated, newly launched website.

Martina Haidvogl
Associate Media Conservator
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

Peter Oleksik
Assistant Media Conservator
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art