Transcripts of the symposium are now online at:  variablemedia  

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

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.

In conjunction with the exhibition Seeing Double, on view at the Guggenheim through May 16, this symposium examines the promise that emulation holds for re-creating endangered media art. Artists,

conservators, and media specialists debate the value and role of emulation and technological nostalgia in contemporary art, gaming, and preservation.

Panelists include Cory Arcangel, Mary Flanagan, jodi, John F. Simon, Jr., and Grahame Weinbren.

Free admission

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.

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

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Seeing Double 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.