Transformation Digital Art 2021

LI-MA's fifth annual international symposium on the preservation of digital art.

24 March 2021 - 26 March 2021
Online

Transformation Digital Art 2021 took place online on 24, 25 & 26 March 2021. Each annual symposium is designed as an opportunity to share best practices concerning both artist-led and institutional strategies geared towards the future presentation of born-digital and software-based art. In 2021 the focus of the symposium was on Documenting Digital Art.

Presented online for the first time, the symposium continued in the annual tradition, pushing further and questioning what strategies and practices could be developed in order to take artworks of an inherently digital, performative and processual nature into the future. Transformation Digital Art 2021 invited international participants from an array of professional backgrounds and presents workshops, lectures, artist talks and discussions and will highlight current research in documenting, archiving and preserving digital art at LI-MA and partner institutions.

Transformation Digital Art 2021 included contributions by the following participants: Annie Abrahams (artist), Matt Adams (artist), Andres Bosshard (artist), Annet Dekker (assistant professor Media Studies: Archival and Information Studies, University of Amsterdam), Driessens & Verstappen (artists), Michelle Feelders (artist), Francesca Franco (art historian, researcher, curator), Rudolf Frieling (curator of Media Arts SFMoma), Gabriella Giannachi (professor in Performance and New Media, University of Exeter), Stefan Glowacki (researcher, LI-MA), Mark Hellar (technology consultant, Hellar Studio), Sanneke Huisman (curator and writer, LI-MA), Brigitte Jansen (Nieuwe Instituut, project manager NADD), Niels Koomen (regional archive of Zutphen), Ellen Kotthaus (conservator, HEK), Marcella Lista (chief curator of the New Media Collection, Centre Georges Pompidou), Alexandre Michaan (media art conservator), Arthur van Mourik (collection manager Centraal Museum), Eoin O'Donohoe (digital preservation analyst, Sound & Vision), Shailoh Phillips (artist, researcher, community organiser), Claudia Röck (conservator, HEK), Vivian van Saaze (associate professor in Conservation and Museum Studies, Maastricht University), Katrina Sluis (researcher, writer and curator), Mauricio Van Der Maesen de Sombreff (artist), Helen Varley Jamieson (artist), Grace Weiss (assistant registrar, Media Arts - SFMOMA), Layna White (director of collections, SFMOMA), Gaby Wijers (director, LI-MA). 

Mauricio van der Maesen Art Machines ReCoding.jpeg

See all participants' bios.

DAY 1: Wednesday 24 March 
17.30–21.30 CET
Programme
Case Study: HEK
Watch the livestream.

DAY 2: Thursday 25 March
17.30–21.30 CET
Programme
Case Study: Pompidou
Watch the livestream.

DAY 3: Friday 26 March
17.30–21.30 CET

Programme
Case Study: SFMoma
Watch the livestream.

Netwerk Archieven Design en Digital Cultuur1.jpeg

More information on Documenting Digital Art in publication:
Documenting Digital Art: Insights for Artists, Audiences, Cultural Organisations, and Policymakers, including A Step-By-Step Guide for Organisations Doing Documentation by Annet Dekker, Gabriella Giannachi, Katrina Sluis, and Gaby Wijers.

 

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The symposium is part of the collaborative research project Documenting Digital Art and is supported by Arts & Humanities Research Council.

Images: [header] Pier Taylor; [1] Mauricio van der Maesen, 'Art Machines ReCoding'; [2] Network Archives Design and Digital Culture, Driessens & Verstappen; [3] Matt Adams and Francesca Franco, Unpacking Documentation