Digital Art Works

What happens to media art when the Internet environment for which it was conceived, changes? Can works that were once developed for the PC now be shown on an iPad? The exhibition »Digital Art Works. The Challenges of Conservation« at the ZKM | Media Museum fundamentally explores questions related to collecting, exhibiting, and maintaining computer–based art works and makes the work concerning digital conservation visible.

For a few decades now, digitalization has enabled and simplified the processing and distribution of data; digital data are available on the Internet for all users at all times. Basically, however, the conservation of digital content has been subject to an increasingly rapid adaptation to new technical systems. This circumstance creates uncertainty concerning the sustainability of our cultural memory.

Using ten case studies, within the context of the EU research project »digital art conservation« concepts were developed for the long-term conservation of the type of art works, which have become fragile due to rapidly changing technology. Together with other works from the ZKM collection these ten case studies form the core of »Digital Art Works. The Challenges of Conservation«. The works open up the broad spectrum of problems in the conservation of digital art and point to the necessity of preservation.

Embedded in the didactic supporting program, the art works themselves will stand at the center: classics such as Nam June Paik's Internet Dream or Jeffrey Shaw's The Legible City will be available to visitors of the exhibition as will be the latest computer hackings by the Dutch artist duo Jodi, or the diagram poetry by the French Antoine Schmitt. »Digital Art Works«, then, stays abreast of an art genre that is representative of our age and art form's life of its own both inside and outside of the museum.