CHAIRS: Anna Frants and Natalia Kolodzei 

Art Data: Collecting, Preserving and Displaying Digital

Panelists: Christiane Paul, Anna Frants, Lev Manovich, Anne Spalter
Moderator: Natalia Kolodzei

On December 12, 2020 at 12 PM EST (New York) / 20:00 (St. Petersburg - RU) Find Your Timezone Here 

The discussion will be held online in English with simultaneous translation into Russian & lasts for one hour.

The talk will be broadcasted on LASER Talks CYLAND Saint-Petersburg 

Digital, computer, internet, software, and multimedia art forms — from CD-ROM-based multimedia projects to net.art — have been created for many years and have entered the mainstream art world. Milestone exhibitions such as the Whitney Biennial included digital works as early as 2000 and Whitney Museum's artport was launched in 2001. University art departments around the world are formalizing digital media programs; textbooks on digital art have been published; conferences around art and technology are thriving; and gradually museums and private collectors are beginning to accession works in digital media into their art collections.

Christiane Paul, Anna Frants, Lev Manovich and Anne Spalter will address and provide insight on the issues of archiving and conservation, collecting and curating these dynamic and ephemeral works or techniques that rely on digital technology in creative and display processes. How we may balance and set a priority between the data and the appearance, as it may cause unacceptable loss when dealing with a multimedia digital art work. How computational analysis and visualization of massive cultural visual datasets methods and software help us with media collections and digital repository management. What are general guidelines for museums registrars and installers in terms of technical documentation and display of digital art? What do museums and collectors need to be “technically” prepared to preserve and display artworks? Does the work require any special software or hardware needs? If the work is interactive, how do people interact with the work? What are new formats for exhibitions? What issues NFT (Nonfungible Tokens) and crypto art introduce to the field of art market and collecting?

There are many unanswered questions for a long-term solution for re-displaying and preserving digital art which require further efforts and research by artists, museum professionals, and information scientists. 

In collaboration with the GROUND Solyanka Gallery and the Kolodzei Art Foundation.

SPONSORS: 

The Leonardo/ISAST LASERs are a program of international gatherings that bring artists, scientists, humanists and technologists together for informal presentations, performances and conversations with the wider public. The mission of the LASERs is to encourage contribution to the cultural environment of a region by fostering interdisciplinary dialogue and opportunities for community building to over 40 cities around the world. To learn more about how our LASER Hosts and to visit a LASER near you please visit our website. @lasertalks