Page 30 - The Black Box Book

This chapter contains a selection of concepts crucial for understanding
the conceptual and theoretical background of contemporary curatorial
practice conducted online, with a sensitivity to the specificities of digital
and networked media (Digital Curating). In turn, it serves as a basis for
theoretical reflection on using artificial intelligence (machine learning)
in curatorial projects focused on processing digitized art collections or
experimenting with AI as a new medium in digital art (AI Curating). This
chapter aims to provide a basic understanding of the current discussion
on digital media curation by defining the terms used in this publication.
DIGITIZATION OF CULTURAL HERITAGE
The digitization of art collections of major memory institutions has cul-
tivated the conditions for dynamic changes in archival and museum
practice, whether it is the online accessibility of collections or the cre-
ation of tools for interaction with their content in the form of curatorial
interventions, educational programs and playful mobile applications.
This has resulted in narrowing the gap between the modes of reception
of pop-culture production and so-called high art in the interdisciplinary
context of the internet. For example, in 2011, the Arts & Culture portal
was launched as part of the Google Art project in collaboration with
17 international partners, including Prague’s Museum Kampa. Currently,
the platform hosts the digitized archives and depositories of approximate-
ly 1,200 museums and galleries. Another similar project is Europeana,
the European Union’s portal launched in 2009, which makes available
the digitized content of 3 000 museums, amounting to 10 million artefacts.
DIGITAL ART AS PART OF CULTURAL HERITAGE
The digital revolution has not only affected the practices of memory insti-
tutions concerned with cultural heritage in the form of traditional artistic
media. The digitization of contemporary culture and the emergence of
digital art have brought many more dramatic changes to the practice
of archives, museums, and galleries.
“Digital technology has introduced new multifarious ways of expres-
sion that change the nature of the object to be collected, as well
as changing the expressive methods available for displaying and
archiving collections. These new objects and the techniques used
to preserve and interpret them embrace interactivity, make use of
linear and non-linear structures equally, and encourage new methods
and ever deepening degree of participation.” (Grau (ed.), 2017, p. 9)
In 2004, Oliver Grau initiated the Media Art Needs Global Networked
Organisation & Support declaration, which warned of the imminent loss
of many digital artworks created in the preceding decades and urged
the protection of this art as an intrinsic component of cultural heritage.
The publication of the declaration, signed by dozens of interested parties,
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was followed by a professional discussion on the subject, supported by
the organization of a series of Media Art History conferences held since
2004. Currently, the topic of archiving, preservation, and mediation of
digital art is being addressed by several researchers and archivists in
many countries worldwide. It has become one of the leading research
directions of digital art as an academic discipline. There is also a growing
network of memory institutions specializing exclusively in digital art, many
of which also maintain online, freely accessible databases of these works.
For example Rhizome; compArt daDA: the database Digital Art; ADA,
Archive of Digital Art; Runme.org; LIMA; EAI. Electronic Arts Intermix;
ZKM. Center for Art and Media and others.
The current debate has changed from arguing for the importance
of archiving digital art to the question of how to accomplish it, to which
there is no clear solution. This is due to the performative, unstable na-
ture of digital art and the emphasis placed by artists on needed critical
reflection concerning the specificity of the digital medium. Moreover,
the role of its distinctive materiality and the cultural-political framework of
its creation and operation necessitates the inclusion of a broader context
in consideration of archiving and mediation of the work for future genera-
tions. While the performative nature of digital art calls for the application
of methods used for the preservation of live art, the collaborative and
participatory nature of many net artworks is reflected in curatorial strat-
egies based on community collaboration, and referred to as a ‘network
of care’ (Dekker, 2018). However, the specific materiality of digital media
reflecting works such as software art, code works, or robotic art calls for
essentially traditional preservation approaches, albeit applied to software
art. Another open problem specific to the archiving of digital art is that
of sustainability, viewed from the environmental impact of the production
of extensive digital data collections, which poses a question of curatorial
choice for archivists. This has been addressed initially by the implemen-
tation team of the ADA online archive, for example, using a method of
collaborative archiving based on the characteristic features of Web 2.0
and 3.0 (Grau & Coones, 2018).
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