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Hi Beryl and co your discussion of the Tanks programme at the Tate made me think about another approach to 'collecting' media art. You write - --- As Stuart Comer says in the brochure for the Tanks programme at Tate "They are not merely performance documentation that can be played back at whim, but rather rely on on a specific set of instructions to reanimate both the existing film or video material and the actions that attend it." --- This is quite closely aligned with the ongoing, slow project of Louise Curham and myself, in creating deeply documented re-enactments of works of Expanded Cinema and performance art. We've worked on pieces by Guy Sherwin, Anthony McCall, William Raban, and next year we'll be working with Malcolm Le Grice. It's not about "collecting" in the sense of "owning" the work, but rather about gathering together as much of the materials and testimony as we can, in order to piece together a version of the work which functions in OUR present time and space. In this way, when the originating artists can't perform their own Expanded Cinema works any more, the next generation of artists are able to pick up the baton. This acknowledges the importance of liveness in the maintenance of these works in public culture. Rather than collectors, we become open source custodians of the work. Some of this is detailed here, in a paper I wrote for "Perform Repeat Record: Live Art in History": http://www.teachingandlearningcinema.org/2012/06/10/tlcs-anthony-mccall-project-in-perform-repeat-record/ And a round up of our philosophy of practice-research is here: http://www.teachingandlearningcinema.org/2012/03/29/re-enacting-expanded-cinema-three-case-studies/ - - - A few years back, with another set of collaborators, I led a re-enactment of Allan Kaprow's "Push and Pull" (1963) - and the detailed blog we produced was forwarded on to the Kaprow Estate, thus contributing to an understanding of what the actual experience of the work was like (in our particular time and place). The idea is that by "collecting" together these experiential documents, a sense of what the work can do in particular situations can begin to accumulate. That project is here: http://www.pushandpull.com.au/2009/05/27/pushing-itsome-thoughts-before-we-start/ cheers Lucas Ihlein Dr Lucas Ihlein Lecturer, Media Arts Faculty of Creative Arts University of Wollongong [log in to unmask] ________________________________________ From: Curating digital art - www.crumbweb.org [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of NEW-MEDIA-CURATING automatic digest system [[log in to unmask]] Sent: 03 August 2012 09:06 To: [log in to unmask] Subject: NEW-MEDIA-CURATING Digest - 30 Jul 2012 to 2 Aug 2012 (#2012-121) There is 1 message totaling 34 lines in this issue. Topics of the day: 1. July Theme: Collecting New Media Art ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 2 Aug 2012 19:29:52 +0000 From: Beryl Graham <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: July Theme: Collecting New Media Art Dear List, I just wanted to thank everyone for an excellent month's discussion - I'm still inwardly digesting all these great posts ... If I can be rather sunny about the issue of mainstream vs. new media collecting, I think there were reasons to be cheerful about some current practices and the issues that might be shared with new media. Seeing some of the Tanks programme at the Tate did make me reflect on how the collected documentation and artworks relating to performance art (Suzanne Lacey's Crystal Quilt) and film (Lis Rhodes' Light Music) were not displayed simply as documentation, but installed as art with new elements (Lacey's sound installation) and with participative intent retained ((Rhodes). As Stuart Comer says in the brochure for the Tanks programme at Tate "They are not merely performance documentation that can be played back at whim, but rather rely on on a specific set of instructions to reanimate both the existing film or video material and the actions that attend it." So, if listees wish the debate to continue, please do - me and no doubt others might be away on holiday, but I'm sure you can talk amongst yourselves! Thanks again, Beryl ------------------------------ End of NEW-MEDIA-CURATING Digest - 30 Jul 2012 to 2 Aug 2012 (#2012-121) ************************************************************************