Inside Installations: The Preservation and Presentation of Installation Art
Inside Installations: June 2004 marked the start of a new three-year research project on the preservation and presentation of installation art, supported by the European Commission's Culture 2000 programme.
Over the past ten years installation art has become a mainstream art form representing some of the most important and exciting art of our time. Contemporary artists are producing installation works that are entering the collections of European museums and institutions at an increasing rate. Installation works of art are prominent at all major international contemporary art festivals in Europe, such as Documenta in Germany and the Venice Biennale.
The nature of installation works of art is distinct from traditional art objects. These works demonstrate specific vulnerabilities both in terms of the contexts and technologies on which they are dependent. For example, they may require an active involvement by the spectator (interactivity) or be dependent on obsolete technologies for their realisation. The very act of installation is often complex, demanding a major commitment of care, time and resources
This project asks how can we best safeguard these expressions of our contemporary visual culture so that they can be experienced by future generations. The preservation and presentation of installation works of art requires an interdisciplinary approach to their conservation, production and installation, drawing on a wide body of expertise. This new area of conservation and collections management is therefore ideally suited to a collaborative approach by European museums in order to develop guidelines and models of good practice
The project will be based on thirty case studies of installation works in the collections of participating museums. Analysis of these case studies will lead to the development of good practice and methodological tools , under the following main headings:
1. Preservation strategies
2. Artists participation
3. Documentation and archiving strategies
4. Theory and semantics
5. Knowledge management and information exchange
The project results (tools and guidelines for good practice) will be shared with the conservation community through seminars planned throughout the project. Information on the case studies and project results will also be presented online, accessible to both professionals and the general public.
As part of the first phase of the project Tate has produced an e-learning site which explores the preservation and presentation of installation art. As a case study, it focuses on a work by Bruce Nauman, MAPPING THE STUDIO II with color shift, flip, flop, & flip/flop (Fat Chance John Cage).
The project is coordinated by the Netherlands Institute for Cultural Heritage (ICN) and co-organised by five other European organisations: Tate, United Kingdom; Restaurierungzentrum Düsseldorf, Germany; Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Spain; Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst, Belgium; and the Foundation for the Conservation of Contemporary Art, The Netherlands.
Supported of theCulture 2000 programme of the European Union
Project Team:
Pip Laurenson, Time-based Media Conservation (Project co-ordinator and co-ordinator for Conservation); Jemima Rellie, Head of Digital Programmes (co-ordinator for Digital Programmes); Tina Weidner, Time-based Media Conservator
Reviewed November 2006
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