I visited CANON ArtLab in Tokyo last year and was very impressed by their
commitment to these sorts of issues. They were re-developing some works for
an, at that time, upcoming exhibition and seemed to have planned into the
works development, maintenance, with an ongoing budget for this and
developed the projects very closely with the artists in the first place,
which of course helps a lot.
Not sure if Yukiko Shikata, the curator there is on this list (Yukiko?) but
she'd obviously be able to say more about their approach than I can.
Bev
on 7/6/01 5:22 pm, Julie Lazar at [log in to unmask] wrote:
> Very useful advice contained in every point. Thank you.
>
> I would also add: if organizations are planning to acquire the installations
> they are commissioning, producing or presenting, I recommend--while they
> have got the attention and direct involvement of the artist and his or her
> technical assistants/collaborators--that they obtain and document as much
> information as possible about things like the parameters for the work's
> reconfiguration; what does or does not constitute the actual work (how much
> of the technology can be variable and how much is required to be maintained
> indefinitely, etc.); what kind of maintenance is required to preserve the
> finest quality of presentation; what ideas the artist has for storage and
> up-grading their work in the future; what is or is not reproducible within
> the work (and any other restrictions protecting the content or artistic
> parameters the work); spelling out the intended life span of the work (some
> projects are meant to have a more temporal life span); defining who else
> holds rights to some aspect of the work; and budgeting in advance (or
> establishing a perpetual maintainence endowment) for upgrading the
> technological components of the work in order to meet new standards,
> formats, etc. Apologies these comments repeat what others have said here
> previously.
>
> Julie Lazar
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Curating digital art - www.newmedia.sunderland.ac.uk/crumb/
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Hannah Redler
> Sent: Thursday, June 07, 2001 1:38 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Installing It. June Theme of the Month
>
>
> Hello list
>
> I'd say probably the most helpful technical tip I can offer is to treat each
> project/installation on a case-by-case basis. Obviously it is useful and
> desirable for a curator commissioning technological works to have an
> understanding of the fundamental characteristics of whatever media the
> artists they are working with are using - this is particularly important if
> the artists are experimenting with technologies they are not themselves
> familiar with, or if there needs to be a very complex installation. If the
> curator is unsure or working with inexperienced artists, as Clive says, get
> someone from somewhere like MITES on board from the outset.
>
> If I have to be general, the key points I would encourage people to bear in
> mind are:
>
> * The technology is always changing - this affects budget and conceptual
> issues - a show planned a long time in advance of its delivery dates may
> need constant revisions of technical solutions, but it is important to be
> clear where the 'art' lies and not compromise this - for example, is it in
> the use of a particular lens/video playback system/computer, or is that
> unimportant to the resultant content?
>
> * Artists uses of technology are very likely to extend or subvert intended
> functions - so no institution/organisation can presume even if it has stock
> equipment this will be sufficient for every work.
>
> * Putting on an exhibition of new media works is a team effort (I couldn't
> agree more with Clive).
>
> * A clear brief needs to provide the artist with the context their work will
> be seen in, as well as details of the physical space and the duration the
> work will need to run for.(some more radical or unstable projects can be
> more viable in temporary circumstances where they can be manned by humans.
> Where a piece has to last for a long time on its own, robustness is more of
> an issue.)
>
> * Artist's proposals which provide drawings of proposed technical setup and
> list of proposed equipment are really helpful. This is particularly the
> case with artists who are experienced in working with technology, artists
> new to it will need more support from the organisation/institution.
>
> * For more complex projects, the artist, curator and technical team, whether
> in-house or hired should discuss the brief and the artists' proposal and
> installation issues in detail before committing to contract.
>
> * Preparation during the development path of the work is as important as
> final installation. With digital projects bug-test, bug-test, bug-test. Then
> don't get upset if they still develop glitches once they're running, they
> will.
>
> * Which brings me to my final point, never presume that once it's installed
> and turned on that's it. New media works in galleries need daily checking
> and plenty of TLC. Even when the software/content is completely flawless,
> you can pretty much depend on a projector that's up for a long time to slip
> inconveniently, or a child to access the system software on a the kiosk (ok,
> this is avoidable, but you need to take measures!)
>
> So I don't know how much help I've been about the nitty-gritty of
> installation. For the Science Museum's Wellcome Wing, which I commissioned
> 4 large-scale multiuser interactive installations for from Christian Moeller
> ('Particles', 'Insound Out'), David Rokeby (' Watch and Measured') and Tessa
> Elliott and Jonathan Jones Morris ('Machination'), the successful delivery
> depended on the artists, all of whom are exceptional technicians in their
> own right and provided many of the final solutions, the museum's technical
> group under Dave Patten, the exhibition designers (Casson Mann), and through
> them the fit-out contractors, and also Mark Haig, a MITES technician for
> actaul installation. I played chief coordinator/nag in the middle. And,yes,
> it did involve a lot of nagging ;-) although I guess brokering is the more
> politic way to describe it!
>
> I'm quite happy to describe the installations in detail but am not sure that
> it would be much help. The situation was an unusual, because it was
> permanent works commissioned for a brand new building in a national Museum.
> Production values and health and safety issues were therefore about as
> demanding as it gets. The works needed to be able to support the use of up
> to 1.8 million visitors per annum in terms of artistic concept
> (reception/interpretation/accessibility etc) and robustness.
>
> A further 'complication' was that the money for the commissions became
> available after the exhibition design structure had already been fixed.
> This meant that the artists had to configure their ideas to work within a
> very prescriptive structure. They were aware of this from the start, as the
> invitation to propose included drawings of the building plans and the
> exhibition design as well as details of the surrounding content within the
> context of which their works would be received. Indeed, some artist I
> approached to propose did not think they could show their works in this
> context, and Christian made the very interesting point that once the project
> was completed and installed in the structure he knew it could not only be
> his work. i.e. it is his work, but within the Casson Mann designed
> structure, within the context of the 'uber-brand' of Science Museum. This is
> an interesting thought in relation to the amount of corporates that are
> taking an interest in media work.
>
> If anyone has questions, or indeed comments if they have seen the work, I'd
> be very happy to respond.
>
> Bye for now
>
> Hannah
>
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