How does a work of art change over time, and which elements can and should be preserved? What does it mean to preserve works that fundamentally address and embody the idea of change? This year, we’ll explore the evolving landscape of media art—encompassing all (hybrid) forms of video art, electronic art, software-based art, and internet art. Whether in museum galleries, art academies, virtual realities, or physical spaces, the symposium will examine the evolving nature of digital art preservation. 

Due to their changing, performative, and live character, media art has a strong affinity with performance. Performance and media art have led to radical changes in documentation, conservation, and exhibition practices. Re-execution or activation creates an accumulation of relationships between different versions of a work, which is not about reproducibility or hybridity, but about their generative, circular potential. This introduces a new set of questions about what the work actually is, both physically and conceptually. To explore these complexities, the symposium will serve as a platform for engagement, discussion, critical reflection, learning, and connection.

Programme Overview

Transformation Digital Art 2025 will investigate, among other topics, the challenges of preserving digital, performative, and processual artworks and the intersections of art, AI, and robotics, and the evolving methodologies of conserving, documenting, and presenting digital art.

The programme features a mix of presentations, hands-on workshops, and discussions, bringing together artists, curators, conservators, students, and researchers to engage with both philosophical and practical aspects of digital art conservation.

Highlights include a session on preserving computer-based artworks from the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, including pieces created with Amiga and early GPS technology, featuring Esther Polak. We’ll also delve into AI’s impact on the creation and documentation of media art, showcasing the Somabotics project with Gabriella Giannachi and Steve Benford. Additionally, we’ll explore the restaging of Constantina Zavitsanos’ performance Entropy, with Sara Giannini and Anik Fournier (If I Can’t Dance). Both days offer fantastic opportunities to (re)connect with fellow professionals in the field.

Programme Highlights

• A session on preserving computer-based artworks from the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, including works created with Amiga
• A deep dive into AI's impact on media art creation and documentation, showcasing the Somabotics project with Gabriella Giannachi and Steve Benford.
• An exploration of the restaging of Constantina Zavitsanos’ performance Entropy, with Sara Giannini and Anik Fournier (If I Can’t Dance).
• Naoto Hieda (Estonian artist and researcher) will discuss innovative tools and methodologies for collaboration between technologists and dancers, focusing on post-coding through neuroqueerness and decolonisation.
• Esther Polak and Bente van Bourgondiën will present the AmsterdamREALTIME project, one of the first large-scale GPS art projects from the early 2000s, and the challenges involved in preserving pioneering locative media works.
• Rosa Menkman and Kaat Somers will lead a session on A Vernacular of File Formats, exploring the intersection of file formats and digital preservation through Wikimedia and open-source platforms.

First Wave of Speakers

Gabriella Giannachi, Steve Benford, Richard Ramchurn, Karen Lancel, Hermen Maat, Naoto Hieda, Morgan Stricot, Matthieu Vlaminck, Olivia Brum, Joost Dofferhoff, Esther Polak, Bente van Bourgondiën, Dragan Espenschied, Paulien t Hoen, Kaat Somers, Rosa Menkman, Sara Giannini, Anik Fournier.

TICKETS

Tickets for the symposium are available here.

• Tickets for either Day 1 or Day 2 are €75 or €35 for students (incl. VAT) each. A passe-partout ticket for both days is €100.
• All tickets include lunch. 

Header: Rosa Menkman, A Vernacular of File Formats (2009-2010)