[spectre] Echoes of Art: Emulation As a Preservation Strategy

[oliver grau]

Echoes of Art: Emulation As a Preservation Strategy
Peter B. Lewis Theater
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
1071 Fifth Avenue (at 89th Street)
New York City
Saturday, May 8, 2004
9:45 am - 4 pm
http://variablemedia.net/e/seeingdouble

The Sistine ceiling waited patiently for centuries before being restored, 
but the digital soot that afflicts artworks trapped in more recent 
technologies can obliterate them in a matter of years or months. "Echoes of 
Art," a symposium offered at New York's Guggenheim Museum on May 8, 
examines the successes and failures of emulation, a promising and powerful 
technique for resurrecting art made with obsolete software, hardware, or 
materials.

1. SYMPOSIUM DESCRIPTION
Someday all works in ephemeral media, from film and video to computer- and 
Internet-based art, may only be visible in re-creations. "Echoes of Art" 
probes what is gained or lost when artists dare to translate past 
technologies into present or future ones.

The symposium is offered on the occasion of the Guggenheim exhibition 
SEEING DOUBLE, a project of the Variable Media Network that pairs artworks 
in endangered mediums side by side with their re-created doubles--and 
sometimes triples--in newer mediums. Attenders of the symposium and 
exhibition will enjoy a unique opportunity to judge whether the emulated 
works capture the spirit of the originals. The show includes new media 
artists young and old, including Cory Arcangel, Mary Flanagan, jodi, Nam 
June Paik, and John F. Simon, Jr.

Of the works revived by emulation in SEEING DOUBLE, one of the most 
venerable--and hence most vulnerable--is The Erl King by Grahame Weinbren 
and Roberta Friedman, one of the first interactive video installations. On 
view in the gallery is the original version, ca. 1982, running on a rackful 
of analog equipment plugged into an antique computer with no hard drive. 
Next to it is a version made expressly for this exhibition, running on a 
single PC with all the video loaded on a half-terabyte hard drive.

The debate sparked by the comparisons in SEEING DOUBLE will be played out 
in the "Echoes of Art" symposium, where artists, programmers, conservators, 
and curators reflect on emulation's value for the case studies in the 
exhibition, its possible application to preserving other aspects of 
endangered culture, and the role of emulation and technological nostalgia 
in contemporary gaming and art.


2. SYMPOSIUM SCHEDULE
__________________________________
***Welcome 9:45 - 10:00 am***
John G. Hanhardt, Senior Curator of Film and Media Arts, Guggenheim
Jean Gagnon, Director of Programs, Daniel Langlois Foundation for Art, 
Science, and Technology, Montreal

__________________________________
***Morning Session 10 am - noon***
"Magic Bullet or Shot in the Dark? Emulation As Preservation Strategy"
The artists, programmers, and conservators in this session begin by 
reviewing the elaborate process required to emulate The Erl King (1982-85) 
by Grahame Weinbren and Roberta Friedman. This case study serves as a point 
of departure for examining such questions as how the technique of emulation 
can be applied to software, hardware, or ephemeral materials. Panelists 
also attempt to draw lessons about which artworks lend themselves to 
emulation, and which to storage, migration, or re-interpretation.

*Presenters
Isaac Dimitrovsky, programmer, New York
Roberta Friedman, artist, New York
Jeff Rothenberg, computer scientist, RAND
Grahame Weinbren, artist, New York

*Respondants
Caitlin Jones, Variable Media Specialist, Guggenheim
Pip Laurenson, Sculpture Conservator for Electronic Media and Kinetic Arts, 
Tate Gallery, London
Jill Sterrett, Head of Conservation, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

*Moderator
Carol Stringari, Senior Conservator, Contemporary Art, Guggenheim

__________________________________
***Lunch and Exhibition Viewing noon - 1:30 pm***

__________________________________
***Emulation Performance 1:30 - 2:00 pm***
jodi (Joan Heemskerk and Dirk Paesmans), artists, The Netherlands

__________________________________
***Afternoon Session 2:00 - 4:00 pm***
"Generation Emulation: Games, Art, and Technological Nostalgia"
This session takes a broader look at the impact of emulation culture. 
Participants compare the strategies available to artists for resurrecting 
obsolete technologies and analyze the SEEING DOUBLE survey for signs of 
consensus from the experts and the lay public on the success of emulation. 
Participants also examine the retro aesthetic motivating emulation among 
players of computer games and creators of game "mods," speculating to what 
extent emulation will become part of everyday life in an increasingly 
technological future.

*Presenters
Cory Arcangel, artist, New York
Mary Flanagan, artist, New York
John F. Simon, Jr., artist, New York

*Respondants
Tilman Baumgaertal, writer and critic, Berlin
Francis Hwang, artist and Director of Technology, Rhizome.org, New York
Christiane Paul, Adjunct Curator of New Media Arts, Whitney Museum of 
American Art

*Moderator
Jon Ippolito, Associate Curator of Media Arts, Guggenheim and artist, Still 
Water for networked art and culture, University of Maine

__________________________________
The symposium is free with the purchase of admission to the museum.


3. CREDIT
The SEEING DOUBLE exhibition is organized by the Solomon R. Guggenheim 
Museum in partnership with the Daniel Langlois Foundation for Art, Science, 
and Technology.

This exhibition is generously supported by the Daniel Langlois Foundation.

Support for the "Echoes of Art" symposium is provided by the support of the 
National Endowment for the Arts.


4. FOR MORE INFORMATION
Please contact cjones at guggenheim.org or visit:
http://variablemedia.net/e/seeingdouble
http://variablemedia.net/
http://www.guggenheim.org/press_releases/downloads/seeing_double.pdf