In Between Performance and Documentation

Lecture by

Dragan Espenscheid

Convened by

Inge Hinterwaldner
Senior Fellow 2023–2024

Details

Public event, free of charge.

Already with the earliest conversations and initiatives for the preservation and conservation of digital art during the beginning of the century, academics and practitioners agreed that documentation would have to play an essential role in stabilizing works that are deeply embedded in a highly volatile digital environment. However, what exactly is meant by “documentation”? And what types of artifacts should be produced and for what purpose? These questions haven’t necessarily been established.

Since that time, various documentation techniques have been used to express ownership of immaterial artworks, to capture the impression of artworks when no effective preservation actions could be taken, and to aid the record of institutional history. But what kinds of documentation can directly support preservation and conservation in the sense that the performance of a digital artwork can be maintained?