Art and Obsolescence

A very special episode! Today we are chatting with Pippi Zornoza, co-founder of the Dirt Palace, a feminist artist-run collective/residency program/space that has been a pivotal part of the artistic community in Providence for over 20 years, and this interview is part two of a three part series focused on the Dirt Palace and its two co-founders: Xander Marro and Pippi Zornoza.Pippi's art and music defy boundaries of media, genre, and context, embodying an intensity and a meticulous approach to detail, often exploring the intricate, macabre, and the obsessive.  Pippi's work spans textiles, embroidery, lace-making, knitting, sculpture, electronics, and performance — be it within an exhibition context, on stage, or, or in a dark and cavernous warehouse. Pippi's musical projects are almost too numerous to name: Throne of Blood, Sawzall, Vulture, Bonedust, RETRIX, and currently HARPY. This series was made in collaboration with Voices in Contemporary Art (VoCA), and was recorded in December 2022 in Pippi's studio. In a first for the pod, you can *watch* the interview, including clips of Pippi's work here. In our chat we delve into Pippi's origins as an artist, her early years in Providence, and how her creative practice has evolved to its current interdisciplinary state that refreshingly blurs the boundaries between contemporary art, performance, and musicStay tuned for the final episode in the series where we sit down with both artists to discuss their decades long collaboration.Links from the conversation with Pippi> Pippi's Bandcamp: https://bonedustprov.bandcamp.com/> HARPY: https://harpyprovidence.bandcamp.com/album/a-sacrifice > A SACRIFICE (music video): https://youtu.be/kpo_PRLyuYI?si=8ZkNzf8Rni3QVXP4 > https://www.dirtpalace.org> https://www.dirtpalace.org/wchbnbGet access to exclusive content - join us on Patreon!> https://patreon.com/artobsolescenceJoin the conversation:https://www.instagram.com/artobsolescence/Support artistsArt and Obsolescence is a non-profit podcast, sponsored by the New York Foundation for the Arts, and we are committed to equitably supporting artists that come on the show. Help support our work by making a tax deductible gift through NYFA here: https://www.artandobsolescence.com/donate

A very special episode! Today we are chatting with Xander Marro, co-founder of the Dirt Palace, "a feminist cupcake encrusted netherworld located along the dioxin filled banks of the Woonasquatucket river, which is to say in Providence, RI USA". The Dirt Palace is a feminist artist-run collective/residency program/space that has been a pivotal part of the artistic community in Providence for over 20 years, and this interview is the first in a three part series focused on the Dirt Palace and its two co-founders: Xander Marro and Pippi Zornoza.This series was made in collaboration with Voices in Contemporary Art (VoCA), and was recorded in December 2022 in Xander's studio. In a first for the pod, you can *watch* the interview, including clips of Xander's work here: https://vimeo.com/889901548In the interview, we discuss Xander's creative origins, explorations in puppetry, animation, printmaking, film, live performance, and community arts organizing.  We don't normally share guest-written bios, but Xander's is a work of art in its own right, so we simply must: "Xander Marro has been living the good life in the feminist sub-underground for too many years to count on her long bony fingers.  She draws pictures (usually narrative), makes movies (usually not narrative), produces plays with elaborate sets and costumes (usually narrative, but confusing), and then makes stuff like posters, quilts and dioramas (probably narrative?). Her work is often about spiritual relationships to the material stuff of this world. Co-founder of the Dirt Palace in 2000 (feminist cupcake encrusted netherworld located along the dioxin filled banks of the Woonasquatucket river, which is to say in Providence, RI USA). Her studio (and heart) is there still. Xander currently serves as co-director of Dirt Palace Public Projects. She cut her teeth in community arts management serving as the Managing Director of Providence's legendary AS220. She teaches a class on poster design at RISD and serves as The Board Chair of One Neighborhood Builders, a community development/affordable housing organization."Stay tuned for our conversation with Pippi, and the final episode in the series where we sit down with both artists to discuss their decades long collaboration. Links from the conversation with Xander> http://xandermarro.com> https://www.dirtpalace.org> https://www.dirtpalace.org/wchbnbGet access to exlusive content - join us on Patreon!> https://patreon.com/artobsolescenceJoin the conversation:https://www.instagram.com/artobsolescence/Support artistsArt and Obsolescence is a non-profit podcast, sponsored by the New York Foundation for the Arts, and we are committed to equitably supporting artists that come on the show. Help support our work by making a tax deductible gift through NYFA here: https://www.artandobsolescence.com/donate

Help shape the future of the show! Take our listener survey: https://forms.gle/Pr8kThnNUGU6hasF6If you listen to this show chances are you are familiar with some iconic images of time-based media art that has taken place in Times Square — in fact I think perhaps the first image I ever saw of Jenny Holzer's work  was a grainy black and white photo of one of her truisms on display on an LED sign in Times Square. Public art has been occurring in Time's Square for many decades, but in fact, as we'll hear from guest Jean Cooney, Time Square Arts has only existed for about 12 years. Before serving as their director, Jean was deputy director at Creative Time, another organization of course that is absolutely central to public art in NYC — I was really keen to sit down with jean to hear how she came to work within this particular niche, and in this convo we get to hear some really cool behind the scenes ins and outs of what it takes to help artists create art for the public, in perhaps one of the most public locations in the US, as well as, how the heck do artists create video art for 65 displays of various shapes and sizes in Times Square? All this and more in today's chat with Jean Cooney.Links from the conversation with Jean> http://arts.timessquarenyc.org/times-square-arts/index.aspx> https://creativetime.org/Get access to exlusive content - join us on Patreon!> https://patreon.com/artobsolescenceJoin the conversation:https://www.instagram.com/artobsolescence/Support artistsArt and Obsolescence is a non-profit podcast, sponsored by the New York Foundation for the Arts, and we are committed to equitably supporting artists that come on the show. Help support our work by making a tax deductible gift through NYFA here: https://www.artandobsolescence.com/donate

Today we are revisiting an episode that aired originally two years ago to the day featuring artist Ian Cheng. This episode was one of our most popular in 2021, so we are pulling it out of the archives for our more recent subscribers to enjoy. Since 2012, Ian has been building a universe of sentient software, creatures, and elaborate systems of logic in the form of self-playing video games, installations, drawings, and prints. In this extended chat Ian shares some of his deepest influences, past mentors, childhood, studio practice and rituals for creativity.Links from the conversation with Ian> Ian's website: http://iancheng.com> Life After Bob: https://theshed.org/program/142-ian-cheng-life-after-bob> Pierre Huyghe: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Huyghe> Paul Chan: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Chan_(artist)Join the conversation:https://twitter.com/ArtObsolescencehttps://www.instagram.com/artobsolescence/Support artistsArt and Obsolescence is a non-profit podcast, sponsored by the New York Foundation for the Arts, and we are committed to equitably supporting artists that come on the show. Help support our work by making a tax deductible gift through NYFA here: https://www.artandobsolescence.com/donate

In our latest episode we visit with artist legacy specialist Ursula Davila-Villa. In her crucial work, Ursula helps artists and their families put appropriate plans in place to ensure that their work and archives will exist in a way consistent with the artist's wishes after they are gone. This unique work draws upon conservation, archives, estate planning, curation, and more. Despite how critical this work is, it isn't really something you can go to school for. Tune in to hear the fascinating path that led Ursula to become a leader in this field, working countless artists including Cecilia Vicuña, Lorraine O'Grady, Carolee Schneemann, and many more.Links from the conversation with Ursula> https://blantonmuseum.org> https://www.fundacionjumex.org> https://www.alexandergray.com > Davila-Villa & Stothart: https://dvs.art> Aspen Institute Artist Endowed Foundations Initiative: https://www.aspeninstitute.org/programs/program-on-philanthropy-and-social-innovation-psi-2/artist-endowed-foundations-initiative Get access to exlusive content - join us on Patreon!> https://patreon.com/artobsolescenceJoin the conversation:https://www.instagram.com/artobsolescence/Support artistsArt and Obsolescence is a non-profit podcast, sponsored by the New York Foundation for the Arts, and we are committed to equitably supporting artists that come on the show. Help support our work by making a tax deductible gift through NYFA here: https://www.artandobsolescence.com/donate

In Episode 68, we sit down with Jill Sterrett, Director of Collections at the Wisconsin Historical Society. Before her tenure in Wisconsin, and even before her time as director at the Smart Museum of Art, Jill dedicated over 28 years to SFMOMA. There, she led the conservation department during its formative years, establishing SFMOMA as a pioneer in the field of time-based media conservation. Throughout Jill's extensive career, from her early years at SFMOMA to her current work in Wisconsin, she's consistently challenged predefined norms. She combines a deep respect for traditional conservation methods with a drive for big-picture innovation. Tune in to hear Jill's story!Links from the conversation with Jill> https://cool.culturalheritage.org/byorg/bavc/pb96/> https://www.sfmoma.org/read/team-media-action-contemplation/> https://www.getty.edu/conservation/publications_resources/newsletters/24_2/dialogue.html> https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Get access to exlusive content - join us on Patreon!> https://patreon.com/artobsolescenceJoin the conversation:https://www.instagram.com/artobsolescence/Support artistsArt and Obsolescence is a non-profit podcast, sponsored by the New York Foundation for the Arts, and we are committed to equitably supporting artists that come on the show. Help support our work by making a tax deductible gift through NYFA here: https://www.artandobsolescence.com/donate

Today we are diving deeper into the world of digital preservation in our visit with Crystal Sanchez, digital archivist for the Smithsonian Institution. So far, over the past two years and sixty six episodes we've visited with all kinds of folks involved in different aspects of preservation of works of art — but something we haven't really looked at closely is the infrastructure that makes all of this possible. Without proper digital preservation storage, systems, procedures, protocols, and the people to build and maintain all of this — time-based media conservation would be impossible.  Crystal is just one of those people — at the Smithsonian she is responsible for managing a Digital Asset Management system that serves 22 Smithsonian Museums, even including the zoo. In this chat we'll hear all about how this works, and what it takes to maintain a system like this, as well as the winding path that led Crystal from mathematics, to film studies, and finally to digital preservation.Links from the conversation with Crystal> https://www.si.edu/tbma/> https://www.si.edu/openaccessGet access to exlusive content - join us on Patreon!> https://patreon.com/artobsolescenceJoin the conversation:https://www.instagram.com/artobsolescence/Support artistsArt and Obsolescence is a non-profit podcast, sponsored by the New York Foundation for the Arts, and we are committed to equitably supporting artists that come on the show. Help support our work by making a tax deductible gift through NYFA here: https://www.artandobsolescence.com/donate

For episode 66 we are back in the conservation lab, visiting with the one and only Joanna Phillips. For any listeners familiar with time-based media conservation, Joanna hardly needs any introduction — she was among the first generation of practitioners in this field,  and the second ever time-based media conservator at a US museum. At the Guggenheim Joanna established the first museum time-based media conservation lab. Her work has been incredibly influential in the field — she developed a series of incredibly helpful templates for documenting time-based media while at the Guggenheim that went on to be borrowed, copied, and iterated on by museums all over the globe. Joanna has always been incredibly generous in sharing her work — years ago she used to host these fantastic gatherings where TBM conservators in NYC could gather in the Guggenheim's lab to hear about the latest research that she and Deena Engel's NYU students were conducting as part of they Conservation of Computer Based Art Initiative. In our chat we hear all about these origins, and what Joanna has been up to in recent years in Düsseldorf where she has not only been leading the Düsseldorf Conservation Center, but also recently published volume co-edited with Deena Engel, with contributions from time-based media conservators, curators, registrars, and technicians from all over the globe. Tune in to hear Joanna's story!Links from the conversation with Joanna> https://www.guggenheim.org/conservation/the-conserving-computer-based-art-initiative> https://www.guggenheim.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/guggenheim-conservation-iteration-report-2012.pdf> https://www.duesseldorf.de/restaurierungszentrum> https://www.routledge.com/Conservation-of-Time-Based-Media-Art/Engel-Phillips/p/book/9780367460426Get access to exlusive content - join us on Patreon!> https://patreon.com/artobsolescenceJoin the conversation:https://www.instagram.com/artobsolescence/Support artistsArt and Obsolescence is a non-profit podcast, sponsored by the New York Foundation for the Arts, and we are committed to equitably supporting artists that come on the show. Help support our work by making a tax deductible gift through NYFA here: https://www.artandobsolescence.com/donate

On today's show we are visiting with Salome Asega, a true multihyphenate  who not only leads New Inc, the New Museum's incubator for people working at the intersection of art, design, and technology, but who has also maintained a vibrant artistic practice all throughout the years that her career as an arts administrator has been thriving. This might be due to the fact that when you look at Salome's work as a professional, it really is just an extension of her work as an artist — delightfully speculative, collaborative, participatory, critical of technology's role in society, and in many ways engaged with questions of expanding access and inclusion. In our chat we hear about Salome's hijinks as a teen growing up in Las Vegas, pretending to window shop in high end shops and casinos so that she could sneak glimpses at the Marilyn Minter and James Turrell installations. We delve deep into Salome's participatory and community oriented artistic practice, and we also hear about her role in co-founding POWRPLNT, a digital art collaboratory in Bushwick.Links from the conversation with Salome> Demo 2023: https://www.demo2023.org/> Iyapo Repository: http://www.salome.zone/iyapo-repository> POWRPLNT: https://www.powrplnt.org/> http://www.salome.zone/about> https://www.newinc.org/Get access to exlusive content - join us on Patreon!> https://patreon.com/artobsolescenceJoin the conversation:https://www.instagram.com/artobsolescence/Support artistsArt and Obsolescence is a non-profit podcast, sponsored by the New York Foundation for the Arts, and we are committed to equitably supporting artists that come on the show. Help support our work by making a tax deductible gift through NYFA here: https://www.artandobsolescence.com/donate

This month we're in the studio visiting with contemporary artist Nikita Gale. Gale's work employs objects and materials like barricades, concrete, microphone stands, and spotlights to address the ways in which space and sound are politicized. Last year in episode 32 we visited with gallerist Ebony L. Haynes, director of 52 Walker, and it was in preparing for that conversation that I visited the gallery, and had the treat of seeing Nikita Gale's work in person for the first time in the exhibition titled End of Subject. I wasn't really sure what to expect as the documentation online was deliciously cryptic — installation views showed a space sparsely populated by metal panels on the wall, and on the floor numerous sets of metal bleachers that appeared to have been crushed, thrown on their sides, spotlights strewn about the room, and wires — lots and lots of wires everywhere. With the beautiful wooden floors and opens space of the gallery, it looked as though a dance piece or some performance art had gone horribly wrong. This was all I knew, as well as the fact that there was some kind of sound element to the piece. When I arrived, the gallery looked just as it did in the photos online, but there was no sound. I was tiptoeing through the empty gallery, when suddenly the whole space sprung to life — voices erupted through the space, and the previously inert spotlights began to dance around the room. Over the course of several minutes I witnessed an incredible choreography of sound and light, until silence and stillness eventually returned to the room for an extended period of time before a new score and choreography eventually emerged. I sat in the room for an hour watching people come and go — some visitors who missed the performance entirely, some who only saw one or the other. It was incredible to see the space repeatedly transform from a spectacle, to a space where the viewers themselves became the performance. Being a conservation nerd of course my mind went directly to wondering how in the world a piece like this might be documented and migrated through generations of technology over decades, and I knew I just had to have the artist on the show to find out. Tune in to hear Nikita's story.

For this episode we are back in the conservation lab, visiting with Carol Mancusi-Ungaro, Melva Bucksbaum Associate Director for Conservation and Research at the Whitney Museum of American Art. If you were to visit the Whitney today and see the lab and the department that Carol leads, you might find it hard to believe that none of it existed back when she joined the Whitney. In 2001 Carol not only became the museum's first director of conservation, but also its first staff conservator. In our chat we hear all about the incredible work that Carol has done over the past 20+ years at the Whitney, but the story goes much further back, prior to arriving at the Whitney, Carol spent a prior 20+ stint as the first conservator at the Menil Collection in Houston. Having originally trained and studied art that was centuries old, at the Menil Carol suddenly found herself dealing with modern and contemporary art and all the special and unique challenges that emerge when a conservator is faced with art where the paint has barley just dried. Carol found that talking directly to artists and their collaborators about the practical and technical aspects of their work was crucial in her work as a conservator — long before this was a common thing for conservators to do. This interview practice was eventually formalized and became the Artist Documentation Program, generating hours upon hours of footage of Carol and her former colleagues chatting with artists like Ann Hamilton, Ed Ruscha, Sarah Sze, Josh Kline, just to name a few. Today artist interviews have become a central part of conservation practice, so I was very excited to sit down with Carol, to interview the interviewer and hear what she has learned over decades as a leader the field of conservation.Links from the conversation with Carol> Artist Documentation Project: https://adp.menil.org/> The Whitney Replication Committee: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/01/11/the-custodians-onward-and-upward-with-the-arts-ben-lernerGet access to exlusive content - join us on Patreon!> https://patreon.com/artobsolescenceJoin the conversation:https://www.instagram.com/artobsolescence/Support artistsArt and Obsolescence is a non-profit podcast, sponsored by the New York Foundation for the Arts, and we are committed to equitably supporting artists that come on the show. Help support our work by making a tax deductible gift through NYFA here: https://www.artandobsolescence.com/donate

Today we are visiting with the one and only Shirin Neshat, who hardly needs introduction. If you've ever taken an art history class that covers video art, photography, international cinema, or for that matter contemporary opera, you've definitely seen Shirin's work. Since her debut exhibition in 1993 at Franklin Furnace, Shirn's work has offered a deeply personal yet universal perspective on womanhood, power, corruption, trauma, and the female body as the battleground of social and political manipulation. All of this in Shirin's work is of course informed very much by her experience as an Iranian immigrant, who moved to the US at age seventeen just prior to the revolution, and since then has lived ostensibly in exile. These themes in her work however are quite universal, which is something Shirin spoke to expensively in our chat when we discussed her latest work which just so happens to be on view as we speak. Her latest exhibition at Gladstone Gallery titled The Fury is on view until March 4th, you've got a whole month to check it out, and this show features new works including a photo series and a large video installation in Shirin's signature black and white with two channels of video on opposite walls, that harkens all the way back to her iconic 1998 video installation Turbulent. We discuss all this and more in our chat, as well as Shirin's perspective on the ongoing protests and movement in Iran sparked by the death of Masha Amini — which of course is deeply related to the themes that have been present in Shirin's work for decades.Today's episode, and the many more artist interviews coming your way this year was made possible thanks to generous support from wonderful folks at the Kramlich Art Foundation.Links from the conversation with Shirin> The Fury: https://www.gladstonegallery.com/exhibition/10596/the-fury/installation-views Get access to exlusive content - join us on Patreon!> https://patreon.com/artobsolescenceJoin the conversation:https://www.instagram.com/artobsolescence/Support artistsArt and Obsolescence is a non-profit podcast, sponsored by the New York Foundation for the Arts, and we are committed to equitably supporting artists that come on the show. Help support our work by making a tax deductible gift through NYFA here: https://www.artandobsolescence.com/donate

We are closing out 2022 with highlights from eight incredible artists that graced the show this year. Tune in to hear the voices of Gary Hill, American Artist, WangShui, Meriem Bennani, Alan Michelson, Tourmaline, Arthur Jafa, and Hito Steyerl discussing how they think about the preservation and documentation of their work, as well as intimate inside glimpses into their practice and studios. Sending a huge heartfelt thanks to everyone all of the listeners that made 2022 such a memorable year for the show – wishing you all the best and see you in the new year! xoGet access to exlusive content - join us on Patreon!> https://patreon.com/artobsolescenceJoin the conversation:https://www.instagram.com/artobsolescence/Support artistsArt and Obsolescence is a non-profit podcast, sponsored by the New York Foundation for the Arts, and we are committed to equitably supporting artists that come on the show. Help support our work by making a tax deductible gift through NYFA here: https://www.artandobsolescence.com/donate

For our 60th episode, we are visiting with artist, writer, filmmaker, and educator, Hito Steyerl. In addition to being able to find Hito's work in museums, biennales, collections, and bookshelves all over the world, a good deal of her single-channel moving image work can be watched freely online, which of course is a good thing, but Hito's work has also explored the darker side of what the global dispersion of images can entail – starting with her deeply personal pre-internet short film Lovely Andrea. Hito's work is often deeply socially and politically engaged – taking on issues of war, labor, surveillance, climate change, and more – and this social engagement and critique extends of course to her writing. Hito is not shy about turning her lens onto corruption that exists within the art world itself, as she did in her 2017 book, Duty Free Art: Art in the Age of Planetary Civil War – a book whose initial seed of inspiration was realizing that an artwork of her own had been purchased merely as an investment and shipped directly to a tax-haven Freeport art storage facility. Hito's installations are often ambitious in scale and immersion, and are incredibly spatially away of your presence – it is quite common to find a place for yourself as a viewer to sit, rest, and enjoy the work – in a way that is very integrated with the installation itself. In our chat we cover so much ground from Hito's origins in film-making, to going inside how she conceives of and creates her immersive installations, as well as some pretty real feelings about long-term preservation of contemporary art in the age of anthropogenic climate change and global energy crisis. This episode was made possible thanks to generous support from lovely folks at the Kramlich Art Foundation. Tune in to hear Hito's story! Links from the conversation with Hito> How Not to be Seen: A Fucking Didactic Educational .MOV File, 2013: https://www.artforum.com/video/hito-steyerl-how-not-to-be-seen-a-fucking-didactic-educational-mov-file-2013-51651> Lovely Andrea, 2007: https://vimeo.com/533265768> Duty Free Art, Art in the Age of Planetary Civil War: https://www.versobooks.com/books/2992-duty-free-art> Radical Friends: https://www.furtherfield.org/radical-friends-book/ Get access to exlusive content - join us on Patreon!> https://patreon.com/artobsolescenceJoin the conversation:https://www.instagram.com/artobsolescence/Support artistsArt and Obsolescence is a non-profit podcast, sponsored by the New York Foundation for the Arts, and we are committed to equitably supporting artists that come on the show. Help support our work by making a tax deductible gift through NYFA here: https://www.artandobsolescence.com/donate

This week on the show we are visiting with Rebecca Cleman, executive director of Electronic Arts Intermix. EAI has of coursed already come up on the show many times, and recently in episode 54 we visited with their director of preservation and media collections – today we will be going deeper into this history and evolution of EAI, and getting a look behind the scenes of an organization that has been incredibly central to the history of video art, and incredibly impactful for countless artists. At EAI Rebecca has built a long and rewarding career of working with and collaborating artists – starting years ago focused on their distribution program, sitting down with artists and facilitating the hard work to ensure that their work made it into the hands of curators, art history professors classrooms, and ultimately in front of your eyeballs in a way that honored the artist's vision and intentions. In 2019 Rebecca stepped up as executive director, and in just a few short years has already left an unmistakable imprint on the organization, stewarding EAI through a move of their HQ, growth of their team, and really doing some important work to think through what enabling distribution means in an age where artists have infinite means at their own fingertips. Rebecca's own professional journey is a great story and is just bursting with tales of the evolution of the art world in NYC, and life-long relationships with artists that she has built over time. Tune in to hear Rebecca's story!Links from the conversation with Rebecca> EAI: https://www.eai.org Get access to exlusive content - join us on Patreon!> https://patreon.com/artobsolescenceJoin the conversation:https://twitter.com/ArtObsolescencehttps://www.instagram.com/artobsolescence/Support artistsArt and Obsolescence is a non-profit podcast, sponsored by the New York Foundation for the Arts, and we are committed to equitably supporting artists that come on the show. Help support our work by making a tax deductible gift through NYFA here: https://www.artandobsolescence.com/donate

This week on the show we are traveling to Karlsruhe, Germany to chat with art conservator Morgane Stricot. You wouldn't know it considering the technologically complex works of art that she cares for today, but Morgane's first love in conservation was incredibly traditional, initially being drawn to frescos and murals. Fast forward to today and she is wrapping up a PhD in applying a media archeological approach to the conservation of time-based media art in the context of the collection of the ZKM, where she serves as their Senior Media and Digital Art Conservator. The approach that Morgane is taking with conservation at ZKM is quite distinct – and a refreshing reminder that the technologies that underpin works of art are also worthy of study and preservation in and of their own right. What does it look like when art serves a supplementary purpose of helping to preserve the cultural context of the history of technology? Tune in to find out, and to hear Morgane's story!Links from the conversation with Morgane> ZKM: https://zkm.de/> PAMAL Group: https://pamal.org/en/pamal-group-en/ Get access to exlusive content - join us on Patreon!> https://patreon.com/artobsolescenceJoin the conversation:https://twitter.com/ArtObsolescencehttps://www.instagram.com/artobsolescence/Support artistsArt and Obsolescence is a non-profit podcast, sponsored by the New York Foundation for the Arts, and we are committed to equitably supporting artists that come on the show. Help support our work by making a tax deductible gift through NYFA here: https://www.artandobsolescence.com/donate

This week on the show we travel to Switzerland to visit with media conservator Martina Haidvogl. We've heard the conservation program at the Bern Academy of the Arts mentioned a few times on the show so far, as for a long time it was really the only formal conservation training program that had time-based media as a specialization. With time spent in Bern, and as an alum of the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, Martina was one of the few first conservators to arrive in the US with formal time-based media conservation training, and now co-directs the Bern Contemporary Art and Media conservation program, so suffice it to say, she's kind a big deal. In our chat we hear about Martina's formative experiences in her early years training as a conservator, the accomplished eight-plus years she spent at SFMOMA's first-ever time-based media art conservator, and the deeply important work she is doing now to train the next generation. We'll also hear about how Martina is thinking through how the conservation profession and the arts ecosystem needs to adapt and evolve to a rapidly changing world around us. Tune in to hear Martina's story!Links from the conversation with Martina> About Team Media at SFMOMA: https://www.sfmoma.org/read/team-media-action-contemplation/> About caring for technology-based artworks and design objects: https://www.sfmoma.org/read/theres-no-app-adventures-conserving-old-tech/> On SFMOMA's MediaWiki documentation platform: https://stedelijkstudies.com/journal/reimagining-the-object-record-sfmomas-mediawiki/> About the HKB's Contemporary Art and Media training program: https://incca.org/training-programme-bern-academy-arts-switzerlandhttps://www.hkb.bfh.ch/en/studies/master/conservation-restoration/> Symposium Contemporary Art Conservation Revisited: 20 years later (program & videos): https://www.hkb.bfh.ch/conscareGet access to exlusive content - join us on Patreon!> https://patreon.com/artobsolescenceJoin the conversation:https://twitter.com/ArtObsolescencehttps://www.instagram.com/artobsolescence/Support artistsArt and Obsolescence is a non-profit podcast, sponsored by the New York Foundation for the Arts, and we are committed to equitably supporting artists that come on the show. Help support our work by making a tax deductible gift through NYFA here: https://www.artandobsolescence.com/donate

This week on the show we are continuing to expand our perspective on the time-based media conservation ecosystem in Taiwan, with our guest Yuhsien Chen. In the handfull of years that she has been dedicated to time-based media conservation Yuhsien has been up to some incredibly exciting things. We heard her name come up back in episode 46 when visiting with her colleague and collaborator Tzu-Chuan Lin, about work they did together at the National Taiwan Museum of Art – and as you'll hear in today's chat there's so much more. For years now Yuhsien been leading the Save Media Art Project in Taiwan, and fascinatingly just wrapped up what I'm guessing is probably the first Fulbright scholarship focused on time-based media conservation, which brought her to New York City where for the past few months she has been embedded within both the museum of modern art – and Rhizome. Yuhsien however has been keen to find a way to carve out her niche in her hometown, and all of the information and practice that she observed and absorbed during her Fullbright has led some pretty surprising conclusions. Tune in to hear Yuhsien's story!Links from the conversation with Yuhsien> https://savemediaart.wixsite.com/sma-tw Get access to exlusive content - join us on Patreon!> https://patreon.com/artobsolescenceJoin the conversation:https://twitter.com/ArtObsolescencehttps://www.instagram.com/artobsolescence/Support artistsArt and Obsolescence is a non-profit podcast, sponsored by the New York Foundation for the Arts, and we are committed to equitably supporting artists that come on the show. Help support our work by making a tax deductible gift through NYFA here: https://www.artandobsolescence.com/donate

Since 1991 when he somewhat accidentally landed a curatorial position at the Guggenheim, Jon Ippolito has been passionately dedicated to building curatorial projects, research initiatives, and collaborations revolving around the preservation of time-based media art. Through projects such as the variable media questionnaire, exhibitions such as Seeing Double, and books such as Re-collection: Art, New Media, and Social Memory (co-authored with Rick Rinehart), Jon's thinking about how to approach the documentation and preservation of art has unquestionably influenced a whole generation of professionals – not least of which through his role as director of the digital curation program at the University of Maine where he has been for the past twenty years. Tune in to hear Jon's story!Links from the conversation with Jon> http://three.org/ippolito/> https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/fac_monographs/198/> https://umaine.edu/newmedia/people/jon-ippolito/Get access to exlusive content - join us on Patreon!> https://patreon.com/artobsolescenceJoin the conversation:https://twitter.com/ArtObsolescencehttps://www.instagram.com/artobsolescence/Support artistsArt and Obsolescence is a non-profit podcast, sponsored by the New York Foundation for the Arts, and we are committed to equitably supporting artists that come on the show. Help support our work by making a tax deductible gift through NYFA here: https://www.artandobsolescence.com/donate

This week we're visiting with media conservator and conservator Caroline Gil Rodríguez, who last year became director of preservation and media collections at the Electronic Arts Intermix. EAI played an incredibly pivotal role in cementing video art's place in history, and there Caroline is doing exciting work not only to safeguard their important collection, but also to help shape and rethink what role a place like EAI plays within the broader time-based media conservation ecosystem today, many decades after the organizations founding. In our chat we hear about Caroline's vibrant professional journey, and the incredible array of positions she has held across many different contexts within the moving image preservation world – from handling nitrate film, preserving Catalonia's legacy of silent film – to assessing software based works of art at the Museum of Modern Art and the MET. Our chat with Caroline further expands the global map we've been building on the show of time-based media conservation practice, as we hear all about her origins and early professional years in Puerto Rico. Tune in to hear Caroline's story!At the time we're releasing this episode Puerto Rico is reeling from the devastation of hurricane Fiona. Below is a list of local aid and relief organizations courtesy our guest – please consider supporting them if you are able:Taller Salud- Feminist grassroots organization that works with low-income and mostly Black women and communities in Loíza. Donation page: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/fionaresponseAgitArte | Papel Machete- AgitArte is an organization of working class artists and cultural organizers who work at the intersections of race, class, gender, sexuality and ideology. Donation page: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/fionaresponseMuseo de Arte Contemporáneo de Puerto Rico (MAC) - Community Contemporary Art Museum in Santurce, San Juan, PR. Artist Emergency Fund - PayPal.Me/museoMACPRPitirre Proyectos-  a Puerto Rican based organization, 501c3 non-profit launched to provide direct aid to the artist community in the island. Artist Relief fundraiser: https://www.pitirreproyectos.org/donateOther links from the conversation with Caroline>  M&M proyectos curator Michy Marxuach https://www.cifo.org/index.php/visit/leadership/item/596?tmpl=biographies&TB_iframe=true&height=500&width=900>  We didn't ask permission, we just did it… https://camstl.org/exhibitions/we-didnt-ask-permission-we-just-did-it/> Recording of noise band Cornucopia, at Iámbica Festival https://archive.org/details/Live_SanJuan_01 

This week we're visiting the the one and only Paola Antonelli, senior curator of architecture and design and Director of Research and Development at the Museum of Modern Art. Paola is quite frankly is a legend  – not only because she made MoMA's first ever homepage on the World Wide Web in 1995 – but for decades she has been pushing the envelope and really reshaping what it means for museums to collect. For instance, what does it mean for a museum to collect something that is in in the public domain, and something that is rather intangible, such as the @ symbol? So far on the show we've visited with many curators of contemporary art, but the picture would be incomplete without design – after all it is all around us – the device you're reading this on, the app you use to download this podcast every week, the ATM at your bank, the building where you go to work, the chair you sit in every day, and the video games you play – it's all design. Curators like Paola help guide us to see and understand these things more closely and learn about the who, what, where, when, and why of the designed world around us. Tune in to hear Paola's story!Links from the conversation with Paola> https://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/1995/mutantmaterials> https://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2013/designandviolence> http://momarnd.moma.org/salons/> https://www.instagram.com/design.emergency/Get access to exlusive content - join us on Patreon!> https://patreon.com/artobsolescenceJoin the conversation:https://twitter.com/ArtObsolescencehttps://www.instagram.com/artobsolescence/Support artistsArt and Obsolescence is a non-profit podcast, sponsored by the New York Foundation for the Arts, and we are committed to equitably supporting artists that come on the show. Help support our work by making a tax deductible gift through NYFA here: https://www.artandobsolescence.com/donate

This week's guest, Paul Messier, is an excellent example of the potential for creativity that lies within the unique brand of entrepreneurship that is running an independent conservation practice. Although working as an independent art conservator comes with many unique challenges (Paul's journey being no exception) it also has great potential for extending beyond what most people imagine art conservators do; far beyond just restoring or documenting artworks. Over the years, Paul has been fueled by a sort of relentless curiosity, and creative restlessness that has yielded some really interesting results, and taken him to places he likely never imagined: including finding himself at the center of the most controversial authentication scandals in photographic history, building one of the most comprehensive photographic paper research collections in the world, co-founding the Electronic Media Group of the American Institute for Conservation, and much much more. Tune in to hear Paul's story!Links from the conversation with Paul> https://www.paulmessier.com> https://lml.yale.eduGet access to exlusive content - join us on Patreon!> https://patreon.com/artobsolescenceJoin the conversation:https://twitter.com/ArtObsolescencehttps://www.instagram.com/artobsolescence/Support artistsArt and Obsolescence is a non-profit podcast, sponsored by the New York Foundation for the Arts, and we are committed to equitably supporting artists that come on the show. Help support our work by making a tax deductible gift through NYFA here: https://www.artandobsolescence.com/donate

This week on the show we're visiting with Signal Culture director and co-founder Debora Bernagozzi. In our chat we delve deeply into the niche and history-rich dimension of video art practice where the video signal itself is deconstructed and the flow of electricity becomes a medium that is synthesized, manipulated, and performed by the artist in real-time. We'll hear all about the incredible work that Signal Culture is doing to collect, preserve, build, and restore incredibly rare and sometimes one-of-a-kind electronic instruments and tools made by and for artists, and the three-pronged residency program that they provide for researchers, tool builders, and artists. Tune in to hear Debora's story, and to hear some very exciting news about the future for Signal Culture!Links from the conversation with Debora> https://signalculture.betterworld.org/campaigns/signal-culture-colorado-launch> https://signalculture.org> https://vimeo.com/signalculture> https://www.instagram.com/signalculture/> https://twitter.com/SignalCultureGet access to exlusive content - join us on Patreon!> https://patreon.com/artobsolescenceJoin the conversation:https://twitter.com/ArtObsolescencehttps://www.instagram.com/artobsolescence/Support artistsArt and Obsolescence is a non-profit podcast, sponsored by the New York Foundation for the Arts, and we are committed to equitably supporting artists that come on the show. Help support our work by making a tax deductible gift through NYFA here: https://www.artandobsolescence.com/donate

This week on the show we're in the artist's studio visiting the one and only Arthur Jafa. From his extensive work in cinema, to his video art, sculpture, and other mixed media work shown in a contemporary art context – AJ's work is often an embodiment of Black identity in America, and he is often cited with being a leader among a generation of artists creating defining a distinctly Black cinematic language. This extends as well into current projects on the more infrastructural / business side of the film industry in the form of his project Sun Haus. Visiting with AJ and hearing his story was a real treat, and it is one with many twists and turns – in our chat we trace his story all the way from growing up in Tupelo Mississippi in the 60s and 70s to today. and he takes us deeply inside the full kaleidoscope of influences, vibrations, and inspirations that he picked up along the way, and has integrated into his work as an artist and film maker: From gospel music – to James White and the Contortions, and from Oscar Micheaux to 2001 a Space Odyssey. Tune in to hear AJ's story!This episode is brought to you thanks the generous support of the Kramlich Art FoundationLinks from the conversation with Arthur Jafa> SunHaus: https://sunhaus.us/> Gladstone Gallery: https://www.gladstonegallery.com/artist/arthur-jafa/worksGet access to exlusive content - join us on Patreon!> https://patreon.com/artobsolescenceJoin the conversation:https://twitter.com/ArtObsolescencehttps://www.instagram.com/artobsolescence/Support artistsArt and Obsolescence is a non-profit podcast, sponsored by the New York Foundation for the Arts, and we are committed to equitably supporting artists that come on the show. Help support our work by making a tax deductible gift through NYFA here: https://www.artandobsolescence.com/donate

On this week's show we continue expanding our perspective on the conservation field with contemporary art conservator Flaminia Fortunato. For the past two years Flaminia has served as the Stedelijk Museum's first-ever time-based media art conservator, and prior to this held fellowships at MoMA, the Brooklyn Museum, and more. In our chat we hear all about Flaminia's origins growing up in the south of Italy, and her conservation education that began with very traditional roots in Venice, and expanded to the (at the time) only recently established field of contemporary art conservation, as well as scientific and analytical materials research.Tune in to hear Flaminia's story!Links from the conversation with Flaminia> A Race Against Time: Preserving iOS App-Based Artworks https://resources.culturalheritage.org/emg-review/volume-6-2019-2020/heinen/Get access to exlusive content - join us on Patreon!> https://patreon.com/artobsolescenceJoin the conversation:https://twitter.com/ArtObsolescencehttps://www.instagram.com/artobsolescence/Support artistsArt and Obsolescence is a non-profit podcast, sponsored by the New York Foundation for the Arts, and we are committed to equitably supporting artists that come on the show. Help support our work by making a tax deductible gift through NYFA here: https://www.artandobsolescence.com/donate

This week's guest Jochen Saueracker had some incredible stories to tell – the early decades of his career were spent as a sort of engineer and/or video art roadie for Nam June Paik, traveling all over the world installing complex towers of CRT monitors. Today, in addition to working closely with Shigeko Kubota's estate to steward her legacy and archive, Jochen works as part of an incredible workshop called Colorvac. Not only is Colorvac one of really just a handful of workshops still capable of maintaining old Cathode Ray Tube televisions, but Colorvac has refined some incredible unique methods and tools for “refreshing” CRT monitors – actually cracking open the tube, giving it a little tidy-up inside, replacing the electron gun, and resealing the vacuum tube. Mind blowing stuff. On top of all of this, Jochen is an artist in and of his own right. Tune in to hear Jochen's story, as well as some breaking news about the future of Colorvac!Links from the conversation with Jochen> See Colorvac in action: https://youtu.be/jQrbzapU0dU> Colorvac website: http://colorvac.de/> Jochen's art: http://jochensaueracker.de/Get access to exlusive content - join us on Patreon!> https://patreon.com/artobsolescenceJoin the conversation:https://twitter.com/ArtObsolescencehttps://www.instagram.com/artobsolescence/Support artistsArt and Obsolescence is a non-profit podcast, sponsored by the New York Foundation for the Arts, and we are committed to equitably supporting artists that come on the show. Help support our work by making a tax deductible gift through NYFA here: https://www.artandobsolescence.com/donate

This week on the show we are visiting the one and only Stuart Comer, chief curator of Media and Performance at the Museum of Modern Art. Stuart is not only prolifically active as a curator at MoMA doing all of the things curators do: building exhibitions, building collections, building relationships with artists, the public, and patrons, etc – but as a department head at a museum the scale of MoMA, Stuart is also very much a leader. The department of media and performance art at MoMA comprises a whole team of professionals, and the work that Stuart and his colleagues have been doing over the years to build upon the legacy left by their predecessors, and the ways in which they've expanded and branched out into new arenas has been nothing short of incredible. In our chat with Stuart this week, we hear all about his department's leading work in shaping what it looks like for art museums to exhibit, collect, and conserve performance art and dance, as well as Stuart's origins as a curator, including serving as the Tate Modern's first-ever curator of film. Tune in to hear Stuart's story!Links from the conversation with Stuart> https://www.moma.org/about/senior-staff/stuart-comer> Barbara Kruger's Thinking of You. I Mean Me. I Mean You. https://www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/5394> Studio Residency: Okwui Okpokwasili https://www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/5226> Simone Forti: https://www.moma.org/calendar/performance/866Get access to exlusive content - join us on Patreon!> https://patreon.com/artobsolescenceJoin the conversation:https://twitter.com/ArtObsolescencehttps://www.instagram.com/artobsolescence/Support artistsArt and Obsolescence is a non-profit podcast, sponsored by the New York Foundation for the Arts, and we are committed to equitably supporting artists that come on the show. Help support our work by making a tax deductible gift through NYFA here: https://www.artandobsolescence.com/donate

This week on the show we're visiting with another emerging professional in the time-based media conservation field. Tzu-Chuan Lin is currently finishing up a masters degree focused in conservation of new media and digital information at the State Academy of Fine Arts in Stuttgart, and in his studies there, he's been conducting some very needed research on the documentation and conservation of artworks that use a tool called Max/MSP – which a sort of visual programming language that has been around for decades and has a high likelihood of being found in any collection of time-based media art that includes interactive installations. Before starting his conservation studies in Stuttgart, Tzu-Chuan worked as a project coordinator in the collections management department at the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, and together with his collaborator Yuhsien Chen, who we'll be having on the show in the very near future, has put a lot of work into building local time-based media conservation expertise in Taiwan. We covered so much ground in this chat – tune in to hear Tzu-Chuan's story!Links from the conversation with Tzu-Chuan> An analysis of software-based artworks using Max/MSP through different conservation strategies: https://flame.firebird.systems/AIC/AIC2022/MyProgrammes#Submission.ItemPage.79478.0.SubmissionType.b85b5825-b1ac-40ee-be77-aea3b40bb5e6> Save Media Art project: https://savemediaart.wixsite.com/sma-twGet access to exlusive content - join us on Patreon!> https://patreon.com/artobsolescenceJoin the conversation:https://twitter.com/ArtObsolescencehttps://www.instagram.com/artobsolescence/Support artistsArt and Obsolescence is a non-profit podcast, sponsored by the New York Foundation for the Arts, and we are committed to equitably supporting artists that come on the show. Help support our work by making a tax deductible gift through NYFA here: https://www.artandobsolescence.com/donate

We're off this week, re-running our second-ever episode from back in 2021, featuring curator, writer, and director of The Kitchen, Legacy Russell. We're back to our regularly scheduled program with incredible new episodes next week!Get access to exlusive content - join us on Patreon!> https://patreon.com/artobsolescenceJoin the conversation:https://twitter.com/ArtObsolescencehttps://www.instagram.com/artobsolescence/Support artistsArt and Obsolescence is a non-profit podcast, sponsored by the New York Foundation for the Arts, and we are committed to equitably supporting artists that come on the show. Help support our work by making a tax deductible gift through NYFA here: https://www.artandobsolescence.com/donate

We're off this week, re-running our second-ever episode from back in 2021, featuring artist Lynn Hershman Leeson. We're back to our regularly scheduled program with incredible new episodes on August 2nd. Get access to exlusive content - join us on Patreon!> https://patreon.com/artobsolescenceJoin the conversation:https://twitter.com/ArtObsolescencehttps://www.instagram.com/artobsolescence/Support artistsArt and Obsolescence is a non-profit podcast, sponsored by the New York Foundation for the Arts, and we are committed to equitably supporting artists that come on the show. Help support our work by making a tax deductible gift through NYFA here: https://www.artandobsolescence.com/donate

This week on the show we are in the artist's studio visiting with the one and only Tourmaline. Tourmaline's work extends across various media and is a magical blend of a very research-oriented practice that brings history to life, and crafting visions of repose, luxury, relaxation, magic and joy – whether it is in the form of video installations,  photography, or fashion. To say that her work is interdisciplinary would be an understatement – not only is Tourmaline an accomplished and award winning contemporary artist, whose work can be found at this year's Venice Bienalle and Art Basel, among countless other exhibitions, but she also works within the context of cinema – for instance the film “Happy Birthday, Marsha!” Which she co-directed, and focuses on the life of legendary trans artist and activist Masha P. Johnson – Tourmaline is also an accomplished writer, her latest being a book coming in 2024 from Penguin Random Houses' Tiny Reprations imprint, on the life of Marsha P Johnson. In our chat delve deeply into Tourmaline's process, influences, and also discuss her background as an organizer for abolition and trans and queer rights, and how this background factors into her work. Tune in to hear Tourmaline's story!Links from the conversation with Tourmaline> https://www.instagram.com/tourmaliiine/> http://www.happybirthdaymarsha.com/> Tourmaline Wins Art Basel's Biggest Prize: https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/art-basel-tourmaline-helena-uambembe-baloise-prize-1234631825/amp/> Chromat x Tourmaline SS22: https://chromat.co/blogs/news/ss22Get access to exlusive content - join us on Patreon!> https://patreon.com/artobsolescenceJoin the conversation:https://twitter.com/ArtObsolescencehttps://www.instagram.com/artobsolescence/Support artistsArt and Obsolescence is a non-profit podcast, sponsored by the New York Foundation for the Arts, and we are committed to equitably supporting artists that come on the show. Help support our work by making a tax deductible gift through NYFA here: https://www.artandobsolescence.com/donate

This week we're visiting with Diego Mellado, an engineer who works in the service of artists. Diego has a formal technical background as a trained engineer but a long time ago after becoming disillusioned with the corporate world, pivoted to using these skills to support  contemporary artists. He has spent the past ten plus years in the studio of artist Daniel Canogar, designing and building elegant and durable technical implementations of Daniel's artistic visions. The technical expertise that people like Diego provide to artists plays a crucial but often unsung role in the art world, and especially in conservation. How artwork leaves the studio, and what documentation accompanies it has a major influence on how well an artwork will survive the future. Years ago Diego was able to see this connection, and began immersing himself in the conservation world and today is an incredibly unique individual in that he has more than a decade of engineering and document works of art within the context of an artist's studio, but also now is very much part of the conservation community. Tune in to hear Diego's story!Links from the conversation with Diego> http://www.danielcanogar.com/> https://muac.unam.mx/patrimoniobit/talleres/nuevas-aproximaciones-a-la-conservacion-de-obras-de-arte-digitales.html> https://www.mediaartscultures.eu/mediaac/Get access to exlusive content - join us on Patreon!> https://patreon.com/artobsolescenceJoin the conversation:https://twitter.com/ArtObsolescencehttps://www.instagram.com/artobsolescence/Support artistsArt and Obsolescence is a non-profit podcast, sponsored by the New York Foundation for the Arts, and we are committed to equitably supporting artists that come on the show. Help support our work by making a tax deductible gift through NYFA here: https://www.artandobsolescence.com/donate

This week on the show we're visiting with legendary curator and researcher of digital art, Annet Dekker. Annet occupies an incredibly unique and important role within the ecosystem of people that steward time-based media art.  In addition to her curatorial work and research, and in many ways serving as a hub and convener within the digital art community,  Annet has also serverd for many years as passionate researcher within the world of preservation.  Annet's work often serves a sort of meta role studying the work of conservators, the culture of institutions and utilizes her close relationships with artists to encourage the conservation field down a more enlightened path – Annet's influence on the field has been far reaching. Links from the conversation with Annet> http://aaaan.net/> Annet speaking at TechFocus III: https://youtu.be/zhALZCR6lRM> Collecting and Conserving Net Art: Moving Beyond Conventional Methods: https://monoskop.org/log/?p=20110Get access to exlusive content - join us on Patreon!> https://patreon.com/artobsolescenceJoin the conversation:https://twitter.com/ArtObsolescencehttps://www.instagram.com/artobsolescence/Support artistsArt and Obsolescence is a non-profit podcast, sponsored by the New York Foundation for the Arts, and we are committed to equitably supporting artists that come on the show. Help support our work by making a tax deductible gift through NYFA here: https://www.artandobsolescence.com/donate

This week we're back in the studio visiting an artist. Alan Michelson is a New York based artist and Mohawk member of the six nations of the grand river, a Haudenosaunee community in Southern Ontario.  Alan is an astute and passionate student of history – an incredible fountain of historical facts, figures, and stories. His public art, installations, and time-based media works serve as moments where archival, appropriated, and newly captured imagery blend and give us a lens into the latest focus of Alan's voracious appetite for history, often surfacing indigenous voices, perspectives, and truths that have been silenced for far too long. Coincidentally this episode is being released the week of the 146th anniversary of the Battle of the Greasy Grass, which Alan takes as his subject in two pieces of his we discuss in-depth, and which are currently on view at the Aspen Art Museum in the exhibition Mountain / Time.Links from the conversation with Alan> https://www.alanmichelson.com/> https://www.billionoysterproject.org/> https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/04/arts/design/alan-michelson-oysters-moma-ps1.html> https://www.aspenartmuseum.org/exhibitions/319-mountain-timeGet access to exlusive content - join us on Patreon!> https://patreon.com/artobsolescenceJoin the conversation:https://twitter.com/ArtObsolescencehttps://www.instagram.com/artobsolescence/Support artistsArt and Obsolescence is a non-profit podcast, sponsored by the New York Foundation for the Arts, and we are committed to equitably supporting artists that come on the show. Help support our work by making a tax deductible gift through NYFA here: https://www.artandobsolescence.com/donate

This week's show features Gaby Wijers – with origins in documenting performance art in the 80s and 90s, as well as leading work in the early 2000s at Montevideo, an important Dutch video art orgnization – Gaby has played an incredibly important role in the ecosystem of time-based media art conservation over several decades, always in very close collaboration with artists, and long before the field of “time-based media conservation” as we know it today really existed. When she founded LIMA in 2013 she and her colleagues created a much needed sort of hybrid organization – a non-profit dedicated to the conservation of media art, but one that is entrepreneurial, and today provides a-la-carte services to more than fifty collections of time-based media art. Tune in to hear Gaby's story!Links from the conversation with Gaby> https://www.li-ma.nl/lima/Get access to exlusive content - join us on Patreon!> https://patreon.com/artobsolescenceJoin the conversation:https://twitter.com/ArtObsolescencehttps://www.instagram.com/artobsolescence/Support artistsArt and Obsolescence is a non-profit podcast, sponsored by the New York Foundation for the Arts, and we are committed to equitably supporting artists that come on the show. Help support our work by making a tax deductible gift through NYFA here: https://www.artandobsolescence.com/donate

This week we are visiting with emerging conservation professional Anna Mladentseva. Throughout the course of her undergraduate and masters studies at University College London, Anna has been building some very fresh philosophical and ethical frameworks for how we think about the conservation of software based art, net art in particular, and her perspective is refreshingly grounded in a very sort of hands-on technical approach. In our chat we delve into the ins and outs of studing Flash, reframing how we think about an artist's relationship to their source code, and what it means when a conservator is flagged as a hacker :-) Our chat finds Anna just wrapping up her graduate degree, and about to embark on her doctorate studies where she will be (among other things) studying the digital collections of the Victoria & Albert Museum. Tune in to hear Anna's story!Links from the conversation with Dragan> Anna's paper “Responding to obsolescence in Flash-based net art: a case study on migrating Sinae Kim's Genesis” https://doi.org/10.1080/19455224.2021.2007412> Fetchish Magazine: https://www.fetchish.net/Get access to exlusive content - join us on Patreon!> https://patreon.com/artobsolescenceJoin the conversation:https://twitter.com/ArtObsolescencehttps://www.instagram.com/artobsolescence/Support artistsArt and Obsolescence is a non-profit podcast, sponsored by the New York Foundation for the Arts, and we are committed to equitably supporting artists that come on the show. Help support our work by making a tax deductible gift through NYFA here: https://www.artandobsolescence.com/donate

This week's guest has been incredibly influential in shaping not just how art conservators think about preserving art on the internet, but also in building tools to help them accomplish things we never thought possible. As Rhizome's Preservation Director, Dragan Espenschied is responsible for the preservation of thousands of works of art experienced through the web, accessible to the general public 24/7, 365. As we'll hear, this very particular context has required Dragan to approach the practice of preservation from a fundamentally different angle than what has evolved in museum practice. Dragan's way of working, and his contributions to the field are vital and serve as a valuable counterpoint and compliment to the slower, smaller scale, shall we say small-batch style approaches we are more accustomed to seeing in conservation. Tune in to hear Dragan's story!Links from the conversation with Dragan> Rhizome: https://rhizome.org/> Zombie + Mummy: https://www.diaart.org/program/artistswebprojects/olia-lialina-and-dragan-espenschied-zombie-mummy-web-project> Emulating “Bomb Iraq”: https://rhizome.org/editorial/2014/jun/24/emulating-bomb-iraq-arcangel/> Theresa Duncan CD-ROMs: https://sites.rhizome.org/theresa-duncan-cdroms/New way to support the show - join us on Patreon!> https://patreon.com/artobsolescenceJoin the conversation:https://twitter.com/ArtObsolescencehttps://www.instagram.com/artobsolescence/Support artistsArt and Obsolescence is a non-profit podcast, sponsored by the New York Foundation for the Arts, and we are committed to equitably supporting artists that come on the show. Help support our work by making a tax deductible gift through NYFA here: https://www.artandobsolescence.com/donate

This week we're visiting with brilliant curator and writer Mia Matthias. Mia's current role is as a curatorial assistant at the Whitney Museum of American Art, but not for long. No spoilers, but Mia shared some very exciting news during our conversation, and you'll just have to tune in to find out what it is. Mia's background, training, and the collection of experiences she's accrued over the years is incredibly interdisciplinary – integrating linguistics, anthropology, and computer science into her vibrant practice. Tune in to hear Mia's story!Links from the conversation with Mia> The Studio Museum: https://studiomuseum.org/> Mia on Faith Ringold: https://www.moma.org/magazine/articles/342> The Life-Cycle of a Software Based Work of Art: https://voca.network/blog/2018/02/02/the-life-cycle-of-a-software-based-work-of-art/> Mia's co-presentation of her graduate work on the Guggenheim's CCBA initiative: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNgqLLMn7psNew way to support the show - join us on Patreon!> https://patreon.com/artobsolescenceJoin the conversation:https://twitter.com/ArtObsolescencehttps://www.instagram.com/artobsolescence/Support artistsArt and Obsolescence is a non-profit podcast, sponsored by the New York Foundation for the Arts, and we are committed to equitably supporting artists that come on the show. Help support our work by making a tax deductible gift through NYFA here: https://www.artandobsolescence.com/donate

This week we are revisiting our very first-ever episode, featuring one of the time-based media conservation field's foundational thinkers: Pip Laurenson, head of collections care reasearch at the Tate. Tune in to hear how a philosopher-turned stone sculpture conservator went on to become one of the most inflential conservators in time-based media art.Links from the conversation with Pip > Authenticity, Change and Loss in the Conservation of Time-Based Media Installations: https://www.tate.org.uk/research/publications/tate-papers/06/authenticity-change-and-loss-conservation-of-time-based-media-installations> The Management of Display Equipment in Time-based Media Installations:https://www.tate.org.uk/research/publications/tate-papers/03/the-management-of-display-equipment-in-time-based-media-installations> Reshaping the Collectible: https://www.tate.org.uk/research/reshaping-the-collectibleNew way to support the show - join us on Patreon!> https://patreon.com/artobsolescenceJoin the conversation:https://twitter.com/ArtObsolescencehttps://www.instagram.com/artobsolescence/Support artistsArt and Obsolescence is a non-profit podcast, sponsored by the New York Foundation for the Arts, and we are committed to equitably supporting artists that come on the show. Help support our work by making a tax deductible gift through NYFA here: https://www.artandobsolescence.com/donate

This week on the show we're visiting with Lauren Cornell, chief curator at the Hessel Museum and director of the graduate program at the Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard college. As a curator at Bard, the New Museum, Rhizome and beyond, Lauren has had a life-long dedication to time-based media art; as well as a passion for growing, shaping, and building arts institutions. Tune in to hear Lauren's story, and the incredible exhibitions she has in store at Bard this summer.Links from the conversation with Lauren> Dara Birnbaum: Reaction https://ccs.bard.edu/museum/exhibitions/695-dara-birnbaum-reaction> Martine Syms: Grio College https://ccs.bard.edu/museum/exhibitions/696-martine-syms-grio-college > Mass Effect: Art and the Internet in the Twenty-First Century https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/mass-effect New way to support the show - join us on Patreon!> https://patreon.com/artobsolescenceJoin the conversation:https://twitter.com/ArtObsolescencehttps://www.instagram.com/artobsolescence/Support artistsArt and Obsolescence is a non-profit podcast, sponsored by the New York Foundation for the Arts, and we are committed to equitably supporting artists that come on the show. Help support our work by making a tax deductible gift through NYFA here: https://www.artandobsolescence.com/donate

This week we're visiting with artist Meriem Bennani – by popular demand! Meriem has been one of the most requested guests, and is a personal favorite, so we simply had to have her on the show. Meriem effortlessly weaves cartoonish slapstick humor into her videos and animations, even when she is taking on dead serious topics. Her work is accessible and inviting, and her work is equally at home on social media platforms as it is in major museum collections. In recent year's Meriem's work has grown in scale, developing into quite complex and ambitious site-specific installations. Tune in to hear the story of Meriem's evolution as an artist, and a generous behind-the-scenes glimpse into her process and practice.Links from the conversation with Meriem> http://meriembennani.com> Two Lizards: https://news.artnet.com/art-world/meriem-bennani-2-lizards-1839054 > Life on the Caps @ The Stoschek Collection: https://www.jsc.art/exhibitions/meriem-bennani/New way to support the show - join us on Patreon!> https://patreon.com/artobsolescenceJoin the conversation:https://twitter.com/ArtObsolescencehttps://www.instagram.com/artobsolescence/Support artistsArt and Obsolescence is a non-profit podcast, sponsored by the New York Foundation for the Arts, and we are committed to equitably supporting artists that come on the show. Help support our work by making a tax deductible gift through NYFA here: https://www.artandobsolescence.com/donate

This week we're visiting with someone who quite possibly has the longest running career in installing and maintaining time based media art installations. Richard Bloes has served as an AV technician at the Whitney Museum of American art for over 41 years, and has accrued an incomparable wealth of knowledge. If there is a potential way for an artwork to malfunction, break or be installed incorrectly Richard has seen it and probably knows how to fix it. In addition to the hard earned lessons won over many decades of collaborating directly with incredible roster of artists, Richard is also an artist himself and has maintained practice over the years that has unquestionably enriched and supported his work as a technician who has devoted his entire professional career in the service of other artists intentions and vision. This week's episode is full of charming anecdotes and terrifying stories of the hard realities of collecting exhibiting and conserving time-based media art.Links from the conversation with Richard> V-yramid: https://whitney.org/collection/works/5459> Magnet TV: https://whitney.org/collection/works/6139> Fin de Siecle II: https://whitney.org/collection/works/8532> Earl Reiback: https://whitney.org/artists/1080New way to support the show - join us on Patreon!> https://patreon.com/artobsolescenceJoin the conversation:https://twitter.com/ArtObsolescencehttps://www.instagram.com/artobsolescence/Support artistsArt and Obsolescence is a non-profit podcast, sponsored by the New York Foundation for the Arts, and we are committed to equitably supporting artists that come on the show. Help support our work by making a tax deductible gift through NYFA here: https://www.artandobsolescence.com/donate

This week on the show we're visiting with brilliant artist WangShui, whose work prominently featured in this year's Whitney Biennial is very much a continuation of their introspection and exploration of post-humanism, trans identity, and human/machine collaboration – in the form of etchings and paintings on aluminum performed in collaboration with a carefully cultivated AI collaborator, and a real-time, generative, interwoven LED mesh and screen-based video piece.  In this chat we not only dive deeply into the juicy technical and material details of WangShui's work, but also hear their very personal origin story as an artist.Links from the conversation with WangShui> https://www.wangshui.co> From Its Mouth Came a River of High-End Residential Appliances: https://youtu.be/HpiXEDJ_1YU> The 2022 Whitney Biennial: https://whitney.org/exhibitions/2022-biennial?section=60#exhibition-artworks New way to support the show - join us on Patreon!> https://patreon.com/artobsolescenceJoin the conversation:https://twitter.com/ArtObsolescencehttps://www.instagram.com/artobsolescence/Support artistsArt and Obsolescence is a non-profit podcast, sponsored by the New York Foundation for the Arts, and we are committed to equitably supporting artists that come on the show. Help support our work by making a tax deductible gift through NYFA here: https://www.artandobsolescence.com/donate

This week on the show we're visiting with conservation technician, software developer, hardware hacker, and artist Emma Dickson, who you may recall as the guest host of Episode 010 with Shu Lea Cheang. Ever since their first foray into the field working to analyze and restore Shu-Lea's legendary net art piece Brandon at the Guggenheim as part of their Conservation of Computer Based Art initiative, Emma has gone on to do great work with an impressive CV as a professional software developer, and conservation technician. Tune in to hear Emma's story!FootnoteFor the two Guggenheim projects mentioned in the episode, Emma wanted to note the project teams. For Brandon: Joanna Phillips, Deena Engel, Jonathan Farbowitz and Jillian Zhong; and For Net.flag: Agathe Jarczyk, Deena Engel and Jonathan Farbowitz. Links from the conversation with Emma> https://emmadickson.info/> https://news.artnet.com/art-world/guggenheim-brandon-digital-art-962129New way to support the show - join us on Patreon!> https://patreon.com/artobsolescenceJoin the conversation:https://twitter.com/ArtObsolescencehttps://www.instagram.com/artobsolescence/Support artistsArt and Obsolescence is a non-profit podcast, sponsored by the New York Foundation for the Arts, and we are committed to equitably supporting artists that come on the show. Help support our work by making a tax deductible gift through NYFA here: https://www.artandobsolescence.com/donate

This week on the show we are visiting with brilliant gallerist Ebony L. Haynes, who founded and runs 52 Walker, a David Zwirner gallery. As you'll hear in this episode, Ebony has crafted a space where she and the artists she works with are doing things differently. The installations are large, ambitious, and not exactly easy to collect — involving virtually every fathomable medium: multichannel video installations, kinetic light and sound installations, performance, and more. This coupled with the pace of programming of four shows a year - each one a solo show, each one results in a published book - it's just sort of an art nerd's dream. Not to mention that they recently  launched a circulating library within the gallery. Tune in to hear Ebony's story!Links from the conversation with Ebony> https://www.52walker.com/> https://www.davidzwirner.com/New way to support the show - join us on Patreon!> https://patreon.com/artobsolescenceJoin the conversation:https://twitter.com/ArtObsolescencehttps://www.instagram.com/artobsolescence/Support artistsArt and Obsolescence is a non-profit podcast, sponsored by the New York Foundation for the Arts, and we are committed to equitably supporting artists that come on the show. Help support our work by making a tax deductible gift through NYFA here: https://www.artandobsolescence.com/donate

Over the first nine months and thirty episodes of this little podcast we have heard the stories of some incredible guests: artists, curators, collectors, conservators, and more – and the nuggets of wisdom that they have shared along the way have been truly invaluable. This week we're trying something a little bit new, and we're calling it The Advice Episode - compiled on this week's show are all of the moments of our guests sharing hard earned expertise and advice. Featuring in order of appearance:  Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Magda Sawon, Lynn Hershamn Leeson, Cy X, Tina Rivers Ryan, American Artist, Gary Hill, Bridget Donahue, Pavel Pyś, Pip Laurenson, Asti Sherring, Christine Frohnert, Glenn Wharton, sasha arden, Patricia Falcao, Kayla Henry-Griffin, Christianne Paul, Chrissie Iles, Pam Kramlich, Robert Rosenkranz, and Legacy Russell. Enjoy, and as always you can find the full transcript at artandobsolescence.comNew way to support the show - join us on Patreon!> https://patreon.com/artobsolescenceJoin the conversation:https://twitter.com/ArtObsolescencehttps://www.instagram.com/artobsolescence/Support artistsArt and Obsolescence is a non-profit podcast, sponsored by the New York Foundation for the Arts, and we are committed to equitably supporting artists that come on the show. Help support our work by making a tax deductible gift through NYFA here: https://www.artandobsolescence.com/donate

Although the role that technology plays in a work of art can sometimes be fluid and flexible, stewardship of time-based media art still requires material connoisseurship: a deep understanding and appreciation for the medium, its artistic possibilities and limitations. This week's guest Lori Emerson, has built an academic body of work steeped in just that sort of connoisseurship, rooted in the world of electronic and experimental poetry. By establishing the Media Archaeology Lab in 2009, Lori has made it possible for countless others to learn about the creative affordances of yesterday's technologies. Tune in to hear Lori's story, for a virtual walking tour of the lab, and to hear what solutions yesteryear's technologies may have for today's problems.Links from the conversation with Lori> https://www.mediaarchaeologylab.com/> Visit the lab: https://go.oncehub.com/MediaArchaeologyLab> Follow Lori on Twitter: https://twitter.com/loriemerson> Follow the MAL on Twitter: https://twitter.com/mediarchaeologyJoin the conversation:https://twitter.com/ArtObsolescencehttps://www.instagram.com/artobsolescence/Support artistsArt and Obsolescence is a non-profit podcast, sponsored by the New York Foundation for the Arts, and we are committed to equitably supporting artists that come on the show. Help support our work by making a tax deductible gift through NYFA here: https://www.artandobsolescence.com/donate

This week, we visit with Pavel Pyś, Curator of Visual Arts at the Walker Art Center. Much like The Walker itself, Pavel's curatorial practice is incredibly interdisciplinary. Although he certainly doesn't label himself a curator of digital art, media art, or performing arts, it just so happens that for Pavel much of the important artists you'll find him working with at The Walker and beyond are utilizing and integrating moving image, sound, light, performance, sculpture, painting, everything - and in some cases all of the above within one work of art. Tune in to hear Pavel's story, how he came to The Walker, and his ongoing curatorial work there and beyond.Links from the conversation with Pavel> The Walker Art Center: https://walkerart.org> Carolyn Lazard: Long Take: https://walkerart.org/calendar/2022/carolyn-lazardJoin the conversation:https://twitter.com/ArtObsolescencehttps://www.instagram.com/artobsolescence/Support artistsArt and Obsolescence is a non-profit podcast, sponsored by the New York Foundation for the Arts, and we are committed to equitably supporting artists that come on the show. Help support our work by making a tax deductible gift through NYFA here: https://www.artandobsolescence.com/donate

On this week's show we chat with time-based media conservator Shu-Wen Lin who has led an incredibly prolific career over the past five years or so, serving as the very first time based media conservator at numerous institutions, and working in museums in over four different countries – including Hong Kong, Taipei, Canada, and the USA. Prior to working as a time-based media conservator Shu-Wen also worked as an archivists for contemporary artists such as Sterling Ruby, and Cai Guo-Qiang. In our chat Shu-Wen shares some of the highlights of her work, not least of which a recent virtual symposium she co-organized to help build local time-based media conservation expertise and community in east and south-east Asia. Tune in to hear all of this and more.Links from the conversation with Shu-Wen> https://caiguoqiang.com> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sterling_Ruby> https://www.mplus.org.hk/en> https://ago.ca> Virtual symposium co-organized by Shu-Wen: https://event.culture.tw/TMOFA/portal/Registration/C0103MAction?useLanguage=en&actId=10049&request_locale=en> Another interview with Shu-Wen: https://tmofa.tycg.gov.tw/ch/online-art/podcast/7Join the conversation:https://twitter.com/ArtObsolescencehttps://www.instagram.com/artobsolescence/

This week on the show we sit down with time-based media art conservator and doctoral researcher Patricia Falcao. Through her many years of work and research at the Tate, and elsewhere, Patricia has been massively contributing to how our field approaches the acquisition, documentation, and long term care of software-based works of art. Tune in to hear the winding road that led Patricia from traditional Rococo woodworking, to time-based media art.Links from the conversation with Patricia> https://www.tate.org.uk/research/studentships/current/patricia-falcao> Subtitled Public: https://www.lozano-hemmer.com/subtitled_public.phpJoin the conversation:https://twitter.com/ArtObsolescencehttps://www.instagram.com/artobsolescence/Support artistsArt and Obsolescence is a non-profit podcast, sponsored by the New York Foundation for the Arts, and we are committed to equitably supporting artists that come on the show. Help support our work by making a tax deductible gift through NYFA here: https://www.artandobsolescence.com/donate

This week on the show we are diving back into exploring what it looks like to collect time-based media art outside of institutions, by chatting with another collector who has developed a real passionate focus on time-based media art. Alain Servais has been collecting digital art for many many years, and not only lives among the work in his home in Brussels, but also operates a loft space specifically dedicated to sharing the collection with the public and serving as an experimental space for guest curators to continually reinvent how Alain's collection is seen. Just a heads up – this week's show contains some spicy language!Links from the conversation with Alain> Alain on Twitter: https://twitter.com/aservais1Join the conversation:https://twitter.com/ArtObsolescencehttps://www.instagram.com/artobsolescence/Support artistsArt and Obsolescence is a non-profit podcast, sponsored by the New York Foundation for the Arts, and we are committed to equitably supporting artists that come on the show. Help support our work by making a tax deductible gift through NYFA here: https://www.artandobsolescence.com/donate