Second Meeting of the VDR Working Group

Modern Art - Modern Cultural Heritage

December 5th, 2002

Pinakothek der Moderne

Munich, Germany

On December 5th, 2002, the working group „Modern Art – Modern Cultural Heritage“ (MKKM) held its second symposium at the Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich. The lectures focussed on the issues of conservation and documentation of Installation Art.

Sequence of lectures

Session I: Museums and Installation Art

History of the Pinakothek der Moderne

Susanne Willisch, Munich

This report on the collaboration between architect, the curator and the conservator unveiled the potential of conflict in the issue of form and function from the conservators view. Technical details of the building and

the exhibition spaces were decribed.

New Media Installations at the Pinakothek der Moderne: Pippilotti Rist, Johan Grimonprez, Rineke Dijkstra, Teresa Hubbard & Alexander Birchler, Florian Schwemer, Munich Works of artists, who deal with video and complex object installations had to be adapted to the design of the newly opened museum in consideration to accessibility and maintenance. Problems and solutions were discussed.

Incidental Perfection - Photographs of Jeff Wall between Image and Installation

Ulrich Lang, Frankfurt

The mounting of large scale photo-transparencies and the light sensitivity were subject of this talk. The author described the artists‘ strategies to archive the digital image and provided information on special materials used by the artist.

Identification of New Photographic Processes,

Marjen Schmidt, Oberhausen, Bavaria

The author provided a survey of techniques and materials in contemporary photography, i.e. C-print, Cibachrome, RC-print, Lambda-print, Iris-print. Case studies of damages to photographs and conservation issues of their presentation (Diasec / face mounting, lamination) were discussed.

Strategies in Conservation for Copying Video Tapes

Agathe Jarczyk, Bern, CH

The author provided guidelines for the documentation of video works in both acquisition and maintenance. Measures of copying video tapes (i.e. the importance of individually choosing the appropriate formate) and the evaluation of the quality of the presentation were given.

Session II: Collaboration between Conservator, Artist, Technician and Curator

Between Intuition and Switch Panel,

Jochen Saueracker, Duesseldorf

The longterm assistent of Nam June Paik emphasized on the conflict between maintenance of old video installations and the pretension for authenticity. Paiks‘ attitude towards damage is: 'Never mind....we’ll make a new one.....it will be better anyway.‘

E.A.T. – Experiments in Art and Technology. Collaboration between Artists and Technicians in the 60ies,

Christine Frohnert, Cologne

E.A.T. was founded in 1967 by Robert Rauschenberg and Billy Kluever, an engineer at Bell Laboratories. Rauschenberg claimed modern technology to be of social relevance to the arts. Therefore the cooperation was aiming to exchange ideas and skills in both art and technology with each technician working with one artist.

Die teuren Lümmels nehmen– The Last Installation of Dieter Roth,

Iris Winkelmeyer, Stuttgart

Dieter Roth’s approach to his work has become known as to be 'processual‘. Not long before he died he altered and extended the 'Bar Null‘, an installation piece of the late 70ies at the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart. The

interactive character as the main impact demands a complete rethinking of the attitude towards conservation and maintenance.

Presentation of the expert groups

At the first symposium in Cologne four expert groups were established focussing on specific subjects. The speakers presented the findings of their groups in Munich and opened the discussion to further projects.

Databases and Networks, Gunnar Heydenreich, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

The aim of this expert group is to develop an interdisciplinary profile for complex database systems in the documentation of modern and contemporary art. So far a concept has been designed for the documentation of light involved kinetic art. For 2003 the concept is planned to be extended in order to cover further case studies in multi media art. For the support of this project a funding application has been submitted to the secretary of cultural affairs.

Bibliography, Barbara Sommermeyer This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

In order to gain access to the wide range of expert publication on materials involved in modern art works and their conservation it is essential to collect relevant literature. Working groups and conservation study programs have been contacted to contribute. The information will be integrated into the INCCA literature database.

Electronic Media, Bärbel Otterbeck, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

A list of questions raised by Erich Gantzert-Castrillo about the complexity of maintenance and authenticity in electronic media artworks in museums has been the main focus for the work at hand. A case study on the preservation of about 800 videos at the 'Neue Berliner Kunstverein‘ will help to create guidelines for inter-institutional collaboration. For 2003 a colloquium about the identification of phenomena in the deterioration of video art is scheduled for Berlin.

Modern Materials, Friederike Waentig This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it  

Eva Brachert, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

The aim of the group is to collect information about the history of industrial products in Germany, such as synthetic resins and rubber. A questionaire has been prepared for synthetic resin refining industries.

They should provide information on the history of the processing of their raw materials. The anniversary publications of the companies are a valuable source of information on a wide range of products.

Coordinator: Christian Scheidemann

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