I know it seems a fairly heretical thing to say in this forum, but
why the obsessiveness about archiving and preserving? Plenty of works
"pass over" into to the technological/cultural graveyard (almost
certainly more than manage to be 'archived').
That seems to me to be quite okay and natural that they should have a
life-span that befits the technological era they were developed in.
Many interactive works are almost completely about the experience of
interaction in any case, and you can't archive that (outside of your
own head). Even writing about the work and documenting it doesn't
replace the experience, interesting as that documentation may be as
Rosie mentioned.
It's rather a more Zen and playful point of view I suppose, but I am
reminded that some of the masters of Haiku let their best verses
float out to sea rather than let their egos become too attached to
them. Plenty of wonderful experiences, interactive art-based or
otherwise, are fleeting and that's part of the joy of them.
I know the riposte to this is most likely all about preserving
culture and enabling future scholarship, etc. but, really, sometimes
it's okay to let these things go. Think ice-sculptures instead of stone.
I say this not just to be contrary (okay, that too) but because
otherwise the debate gets really bogged down in the how instead of
the why.
Best,
Andy
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Andy Polaine
Senior Lecturer, COFA, UNSW
Convenor, Omnium Creative Network
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