Research Questions

• Can these works be installed in 2016 and again using current technology? What parameters are required for the necessary migration?
  
• Can these parameters also be used with a subsequent migration?
  
• Can the artist and the experts jointly record these parameters?
  
• Can the artist and the experts jointly create a script for reinstallation?

God’s Browser (2010)

Brief Description of the Work

God’s Browser is a born-digital interactive installation that invites the viewer into the informational space of the internet. Activated by a theremin – an electronic instrument played without physical contact – the viewer becomes the conductor of a stop-motion-like film composed of 1.5 million images sourced online between 2008 and 2010. These images are stored in a dedicated database from which the installation draws.

The theremin acts as the interface and is key to the work's interactive behaviour. Its sensitivity is fixed to its internal properties, functioning as a capacitive sensor that responds to mass rather than specifically to human presence. This makes it highly sensitive to environmental factors such as humidity. Consequently, the interaction may vary depending on the exhibition space, and adjustments may be necessary to maintain its responsiveness. A video registration documents the ideal behaviour of the installation, with Mul demonstrating and describing how it should function, providing essential guidance for calibrating the instrument during future exhibitions.

Preservation and Challenges

Preservation of God’s Browser presents particular challenges due to the complexity of its software, which performs pairwise comparisons between all 1.5 million images – totalling approximately 225 trillion comparisons. Ensuring the work remains operable depends on maintaining compatible hardware, including video cards, motherboards and operating systems. As Mul notes: “In terms of preservation you don’t actually change the software. But you make sure it’s safe and then make sure that there is an available compatible system with which to play the work.” To this end, complete system backups, the source code, and the image database are securely archived within LI-MA’s digital art repository.

The theremin is also an essential component and must include an analogue voltage output. While the instrument is obscure, its long history – with models produced since 1928 – suggests that it is likely to remain available over the next 15 years.

Match of the Day (2004 - 2008)

Brief Description of the Work

Match of the Day is a hybrid artwork developed by Geert Mul between 2004 and 2008. At its core is a software programme that extracts stills from video clips captured daily from approximately 30 international television broadcasts via satellite. These stills are then analysed and grouped into visual pairs. Mul selects his favourites from thousands of matches and saves them as JPEGs, which are then presented as prints, in a book, in video format and as installations.

Mul defines the artwork not as the software itself, but as the curated image pairs and their various manifestations. Through artist interviews, it has become clear that he considers himself the director of the project – solely responsible for deciding which pairs are shared and in what format. The software and output together form a project that reflects a visual memory of the era’s mass media, reinterpreted through different media.

Preservation and Challenges

Although the original software is no longer functional – it cannot currently process satellite feeds or generate new image matches – this does not affect the exhibition of the artwork. For Mul, the essence of Match of the Day lies in the selected image pairs and the forms in which they are shared. The most important element to preserve is the folder of approximately 5,000–6,000 selected JPEGs. These files were originally saved on Mul’s personal computer and backup drive but have now been transferred to LI-MA for long-term preservation.

This Land is Man-Made (2000)

Brief Description of the Work

This Land is Man-Made is an interactive installation exploring themes of loss, nostalgia and landscape through personal and cultural lenses. It comprises a wall-mounted monitor displaying a video of a static Dutch polder landscape overlaid with scrolling poetry, and a large-scale projection of a harbour scene focused on churning water. The projection runs continuously but changes dynamically – zooming further into the water – when a viewer approaches the monitor, triggered by a sensor.

Preservation and Challenges

The presentation of the work at Stedelijk Museum Schiedam revealed the importance of spatial layout. The exhibition space was too short, allowing viewers to read the text from the room’s entrance, thus reducing the impact of the interactive element. Similarly, ambient sound from other works compromised the installation’s sound levels. In future presentations, adherence to the artwork’s interactivity script and installation instructions – which detail spatial requirements and sound calibration – is essential to preserve the intended experience.

Technological updates made for the Schiedam presentation enhanced compatibility without altering the work’s behaviour. The original C-coded software (developed by Carlo Prelz) running on Linux was migrated to MaxMSP (by Erik Overmeire) under macOS. The sensor was upgraded from the SICK LMS200 to the more compact LMS100. These updates streamline the system and are considered the ideal current configuration. Key video files, including the looping projection and monitor video, are now securely stored with LI-MA. Should further updates be required in the future, migration – rather than emulation – remains the most appropriate approach due to the system’s relative simplicity.

The Library of Babel (2003)

Brief Description of the Work

The Library of Babel is a generative interactive installation inspired by Borges’ eponymous story. Drawing from a 2003 database of 100,000 internet-sourced images, the work is activated when a viewer steps on one of nine floor tiles arranged in a 3 × 3 grid. Activation prompts the software to select visually similar images based on 18 parameters, which are then projected from above onto the corresponding tile, creating the illusion that the images are emerging from beneath the viewer’s feet.

The version exhibited at Stedelijk Museum Schiedam used an earlier iteration of the software, likely taken from the code repository of programming collaborator Carlo Prelz. This version limited image projection to the active tile, in contrast to the original installation where images bled significantly across adjacent tiles. For Mul, this broader spread is key, especially when multiple participants are present – creating a visual tension as image pools appear to compete for space. The current interactivity script documents both the installed and ideal versions, providing clarity on how the work behaves with varying numbers of participants.

Preserving The Library of Babel depends on the continued ability to run the software on compatible hardware, including video cards, motherboards and operating systems, rather than altering the code itself. The image database is also central to the artwork, reflecting a specific moment in early internet culture. As Mul has remarked: “As the work gets older, it will likely become more and more visible that the images are old and important to the work.” Both the software and image archive are now securely preserved in LI-MA’s digital art repository to ensure their availability for future presentations.

Header image: Geert Mul, This Land is Man-Made (2010)