Media Matters: Collaborating Towards the Care of Time-based Media Works of Art
 A lightlock corridor, used to create low level conditions for a time-based media work of art. |
Curators, conservators, registrars and media technical managers from New Art Trust, Tate, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Museum of Modern Art in New York have formed a consortium to establish best practice guidelines for care of time-based media works of art (for example, video, slide, film, audio and computer-based installations). Effective approaches to the stewardship of electronic art rely on the blending of traditional museum practice with new modes of operating that derive from and respond to the complex nature of these installations. In many cases artists are very specific about the way in which the work should be installed and the technology used to show it. The installation of these works requires new skills and new areas of collaboration within museums. Whereas internationally agreed standards exist for the handling, installation and care of traditional works of art, there are no such standards at present for time-based media works. This project aims to raise awareness of the requirements of these works and to provide a practical response to the need for international agreement among museums. |
Phase One of this project focuses on the management of loans of time-based media works. In order to clarify the nature of the responsibilities of lenders and borrowers, the deliverables for this phase include: a generic process diagram, agreed terminology and documentation, agreed amendments to facility reports, and recommended revisions of standard loan requirements and loan letters. The results will be published on Tate’s website and made available for peer review from summer 2004. In addition to the concrete outputs described above, the project is designed to consider process - specifically, the measurable benefits of effective collaboration. Towards this end participants are keen to gain insights into building consensus in a contemporary museum context. Upon completion of this first phase, the results will be evaluated with a view to extending the project to address acquisition, collections management and display issues for time-based media works of art.
Project team:
Project leaders: Christopher Eamon Director,
New Art Trust; Pip Laurenson, Conservator for Electronic Media,
Tate; James Coddington, Chief Conservator and Ramona Bannayan,
Director of Collections Management and Registration, Museum
of Modern Art New York; and Jill Sterrett, Director of Collections
and Conservation, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
Participants include curators, conservators,
collection managers, registrars and technical managers at
MoMA, Tate and SFMOMA.
Supported by New Art Trust (pilot project 2003-4).
May 2004
