In 2017 artist and researcher Julie Thorez Boschat was invited by LIMA to research the work Chinese Gold by UBERMORGEN as a casestudy within the framework of the LIMA project and public programme Cultural Matter. At the same time, LIMA was in the process of developing the project Arthost, a research into methodologies, requirements and architecture for the preservation of digital art. While the casestudy research by Thorez Boschat progressed, it also contributed to the elaboration of Arthost.

Within the casestudy research, several aspects of Chinese Gold had to be addressed by a preservation strategy to ensure the future distribution and exhibition of the artwork: the conceptual nature of the work required deeper insight into the artists' intentions and process; the online context, crucial to its development, constitutes an ever-growing source of information on the work and its theme; the exhibition history and the artists' decisions reveal a deliberate upkeep of uncertainty with regards to the work's evolution; and lastly, the work is very much subject to the influence of third parties, who have somehow contributed to the creation of core material of the work (found material), or influenced its becoming, through curatorial decisions or commentary.

In her casestudy research, Boschat Thorez exposes her experience, thoughts and approach to preserving Chinese Gold as a stranger from traditional institutional practices.

Read the full casestudy research here.