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Case Study: Geomania, 1986 by Steina
Research into media installations
By: Gaby Wijers, Ramon Coelho, Netherlands Media Art Institute Amsterdam
Gaby Wijers and Ramon Coelho researched in the scope of the OASIS Archive Project re-installation, documentation, preservation and archiving aspects of Geomania : Steina 1986, focusing on safeguarding this work so that it can be experienced by future generations.
Over the past ten years time based media art installations have become a mainstream art form representing some of the most important and exciting art of our time. The nature of installation art works differs immensely from traditional art objects.
Those works incorporating time-based media, such as audio-visual and electronic media, net.art or performance are understood in terms of their behaviour as well as their component parts. The works often anticipate an active involvement by the spectator (interactivity) and evoke a multi-sensorial experience (sound, vision, touch and smell).
Installation artworks are often created for site and time specific occasions, and demonstrate specific vulnerabilities both in terms of the contexts and technologies on which they are dependent. In order to be able to display these works in the future it is important to understand what of them is important to preserve. A central task enabling adequate presentation (and experience) – in the present and teh future – of installation art is the careful documentation of the specific requirements for the presentation. A task, that is complicated, due to the fact that the "optimum" form of presentation is difficult to define precisely for many works of media art. Furthermore the original "authentic" state often varies greatly through the course of different presentations.
One of the greatest challenges in the area of registration of multimedia installations is the stipulation of rights and restrictions with regard to future presentations. At the same time, there is a field of tension between the wish to enable registration - the need to lay down information in order to make the work transferable - and the changeability of installations. In some cases, this changeability is part of the concept. However, changes are also inherent in the technology used and the functioning of that technology. Information on the significance of the technology used, the manner of presentation and the artists’ intention is also important.
‘…because of the variable and performance aspect of many installations, conservators working with this medium will need to look beyond the material and consider that the “heart” of a work might lie primarily in its less-tangible qualities. Preserving for the future something that is above all an experience might require conservators to take a more fluid view of what may or may not be changed about a work, challenging conventional notions of accuracy and authenticity.’
To gain a deeper insight into problems surrounding the presentation, registration and documentation of multimedia installations the Netherlands Media Art Institute initiated and participated in expert meetings, inventories, research and case studies. Based on those findings we took the opportunity to provide inside information on the presentation and preservation process of the installation Geomania by Steina. In the case of this installation the question arose what remains of media art, as it hadn’t been exhibited for quite a long time. How should the work be interpreted, would it still function and which decisions should be made in order to ‘re-animate’ or ‘re-construct’ it?
Through research of literature and exhibition history, together with an artist interview and video documentation we were able to write a case study report with conceptual and technical recommendations including a reader for the purposes of re-installation and preservation. This reader includes, among other things: art-historical background, reconstruction of previous presentations, technical data, object registrations, installation instructions, bibliography and recommendations for follow-up research. Furthermore, the construction of Geomania is documented with photographs, and the installation is recorded on video. By doing some of these time consuming case studies (we hope we can do 1 or 2 a year) we hope to develop a code of practise and guidelines for future presentation. The key focus of the research is to communicate the margins of what aspects may or may not be altered if the essence of the work is to remain intact. Not by forcing a rigid or fixed interpretation onto the work, but by respecting the creative process and being well aware of the idiosyncratic nature of contemporary art.
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