Martijn van Boven (ArtEZ Institute of the Arts)
Deborah Mora (Student ArtEZ)
Agathe Jarczyk (University of the Arts Bern)
Moderated by Gaby Wijers (LIMA)

Digital art conservation asks for certain skills in computer science, material science, media technology, engineering, art history, and conservation. In the case of sustainable digital art preservation, it starts at the artists with the creation of an artwork. What can the new generation of artists bring to the table? What are the core competencies, mindsets and skills expected from the new generation of media conservators?

Agathe Jarczyk, conservator of Modern Materials and Media and owner of the Studio for Video Conservation in Bern currently holds the position of an associate professor and researcher at the department for conservation and restoration at the University of the Arts in Bern. In her presentation she gave examples of case studies that challenge her group of conservation students into creative documentation and research. By looking at the objects as grown entities in a holistic approach, Jarczyk tries to stimulate her students to write extensive documentation, to interview artists and to come up with new ideas for documentation. Within the curriculum a lot of international speakers and specialists are invited.

Slides from Agathe Jarczyck, an x-ray of the work of Veronika Klaus.

Head of Interaction Design Course at ArtEZ, artist and tutor Martijn van Boven talked about his experience of teaching students about digital art conservation and invited one of his students to share her personal experiences on this subject during the symposium. One of the mandatory assignments that Van Boven assigned to his students focused on documentation; students had to document their own artwork with the Artwork Documentation Tool. and then subsequently switch information with a fellow student to create a reproduction of the original work by the other student based on documentation guidelines. The final grade depended on the specificity of the given documentation that influenced the final result. Deborah Mora stressed the importance of the assignment in understanding ways of documentation and the importance of documentation through her own process. Documentation is an valuable preservation tool, which often provides an insight into the artistic parameters followed, allowing for reliable recreation or conservation efforts.

Agathe Jarczyk

Martijn van Boven and Deborah Mora


Martijn van Boven, Deborah Mora and Agathe Jarczyk.