Chapter 5 Framing Intention
Presentation as Preservation Strategy in Video Art
In: The Explicit MaterialSearch for other papers by Katharina Ammann in
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Abstract
Video merely consists of electronic or digital data, which must be installed in order to be visible. This is not only an artistic challenge but also a curatorial one and increasingly a conservation issue as well. Taking video works by the artist David Claerbout as a case study, I demonstrate that this special aspect of the medium not only requires the implementation of a different set of preservation strategies but also creates an overlap between the traditionally defined roles of artist, curator, conservator, and technician. As long as museum professionals know about the interrelation between content, form, and intent in Claerbout’s video installation, the work remains presentable. Furthermore, interplay between ‘conceive -- curate -- conserve’ creates a very specific condition of showing, which makes the video medium such a fruitful example in the current discourse around materiality and art in the digital age. The word ‘presentation’ in relation to video art can thus act as a synonym for preservation since even the regular exhibition of a work of video requires its continued migration onto a succession of new playable formats.