Decisions
Due to the temporary and deteriorating nature of
film and video, the preservation of artist moving images can be a very hard
thing to do. Some of the
galleries and institutions engaging with this problem have decided to reinterpret
preservation as a process of managing the acceptable changes that enable work
to be 'experienced' in as close as possible its original form, rather
than trying to metaphorically 'freeze' it in its concrete original 'physical'
form. This process of 'managing acceptable changes' is heavily interpretative,
particularly if the artist is not at hand to help.
It also raises some important issues about moving image work in general. Moving images come alive and offer their intent only when they move. When they're still, they present other different meanings or information. The change from one state to the other is very quick but if the machine that enables the change becomes obsolete, even if it is very good condition, in regard to its original intent, the work is effectively dead. This argument against preserving the original objects suggests that work should be copied or migrated onto a modern equivalent format, but this brings problems too. This can introduce different aesthetics but also a gap between the different ages of the work and the new format, and thus contributes to the detachment of a work from its point of origin.
Identifying what the 'acceptable changes' are in regard to your work can be a very hard thing to determine. So as to maintain a form of control about how your work is experienced, however, it is better that you undergo this process, rather than someone else. By the same token, if you feel that there are no changes that are acceptable to the integrity of your work, you should certainly make this clear in your records and documentation too. In the likelihood of that conclusion, and before you reach it, it would be advisable to think hard.
The process of documenting goes beyond writing down the technical processes and components connected to a work then, and should in fact push you to think about the intent and integrity of the work too.
Steve Seid, the video curator at the Pacific Film Archive at the Berkley Art Museum, makes some very good points about this in his report on TechArt: A Symposium on Installation Art Preservation, in San Francisco in 2000. You can read it at www.experimentaltvcenter.org/history/preservation/prestext.php3?id=4
Here he asks, in part, what is the core of an individual work and thus what can be extracted or modified without altering its intent? He also asks, what kind of documentation is necessary to establish a measure of this intent to insure accurate re-stagings in the future? This restaging may go beyond the specificity of the format to encompass the projector, monitor or other image producing equipment.
UNDERSTANDING MEDIUM: preserving content and context in variable media art by Caitlin Jones
The Variable Media Network addresses the conflicting issues of intent and the deterioration of formats by encouraging artists to think about how to define their work independently from the medium in which it is employed. Caitlin Jones, from the Guggenheim, New York, a contributing members of the network, discusses their work and the use of a questionnaire.
Documentation
The (technical) documentation of your work can help with everyday matters,
as well as contributing to long-term preservation. It provides a source,
other than the work itself and thus saves its consultation, to reflect on the
extent of your collection and can even help with determining the priorities
for restoration. It also preserves information that may otherwise easily
be forgotten, such as noting where other copies and versions are held. This
technical information can also extend to the notification of the importance
of certain extraneous elements, such as the particularity of a certain projector,
monitor or other installation part.
KMI has prepared a form for recording information about your work which you can download in multiple formats from the Decisions and Documentation page of the Installation section. Like this Issues to Consider section, the form addresses specific technical aspects of your work, including its arrangement, but also gives space to record your thoughts about what constitutes the core of its intent.
There is also other supporting information about documentation in relation to specific formats, in the film, video and installation sections. These include notes about labelling and specific instructions for screenings.