The Conservation of Software-based Art

THE CONSERVATION OF SOFTWARE-BASED ART Presentation by Deena Engel (prof at NYU comp/sci dept.)

Can you still read a Word document that you wrote 10 or 15 years ago? Likely not! The storage media, the operating system, the software, and/or your hardware have all changed in the interim. What about a work of art? Museums and archival collections are expected to exhibit their holdings in perpetuity: think of the Greek and Roman galleries at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, filled with works of art from so long ago. What about software-based art? How can it be best conserved and re-exhibited? What do conservators and other art professionals need to know and what can they do to protect these fragile works of software-based art for future generations?