Presenting and Preserving New Media

"The characteristics of the digital medium pose numerous challenges to the traditional art world, ranging from presentation to collection and preservation. For the longest time, museums, galleries and the art world and art market in general have been mostly "objectoriented"and have configured their framework and infrastructure to accommodate the presentation and preservation of the static art object. The characteristics of so-called new media art have introduced a shift from the object to process: as an inherently time-based, dynamic, interactive, collaborative, customizable and variable art form, digital art resists "objectification" and has changed traditional notions of the "art object."

The one thing everyone seems to agree upon when it comes to this art form is that the term now commonly used to describe it "new media" is an extremely unfortunate choice. This umbrella term is not at all helpful when it comes to describing characteristics or aesthetics of the extremely hybrid digital medium. The qualifier of choice here, "new," points to the fleeting nature of terminology: in the late 20th century, the term "new media"-- previously used mostly for film / video -- made a fluid transition from analogue to digital media." Continue reading Challenges for a Ubiquitous Museum: Presenting and Preserving New Media by Christiane Paul, Neme.