The verb 'document' comes from the Latin word 'docere', meaning to show, to inform and allow to see. Documentation is therefore both a demonstrative and cognitive process meant to be a demonstration or instruction of a particular principle or idea. In order to reconstruct, research, archive and preserve a media artworks, proper documentation is crucial. 

The goal of preservation is to maintain the artwork in its optimum, original condition. The content, the meaning, the context of the work and description of the steps necessary to preserve the work are all documented.  It does not suffice to simply exhibit and describe the material. The works must be seen and placed in a certain context. Documents in the form of text, video, screenshots, pictures and instruction manuals are all of paramount importance when one wants to understand the significance and the meaning of a work fifty years after its creation.

Documentation is often all that remains after a work has been shown and experienced. And it is documentation that forms the basis for a reconstruction, new installation or performance of that work. This is especially true of performances and NetArt but also for interactive and event based works, which are produced and presented but rarely preserved. There are many different possibilities and ways to document. What precisely must be documented and at which point are important elements. LIMA takes a proactive approach to documentation. Equally important is the development of both a platform and knowledge base that allows information sharing and multiple usage of the documentation. This approach is also more in line with the artist's own interdisciplinary way of working and allows more room for participation and dialogue. Previously, a work was documented after the fact. Documentation becomes a fundamentally different process in this new model.

What can we offer you?

• LIMA specialises in archiving and knows like no other which Meta data are important. We make use of the GAMA keywords.
• LIMA makes video registrations (recordings) and configures media systems and develops technical contractual riders for the distribution of its collection.
• LIMA describes the installations and born digital art based on the guidelines developed in cooperation with SMBK, Tate and INCAA among others.
• LIMA develops best practices for the documentation of digital art.
• LIMA conducts case studies in order to evaluate existing tools for documentation and to make them suitable for digital art platforms.
• LIMA provides knowledge through training programs and publications for students, digital art makers and collection managers.
• LIMA is a link between Dutch and international research in the field of archiving and documentation of digital art.

​If you are interested in one of our services, please contact Gaby Wijers.

Contact Documentation: Gaby Wijers