Time-Based Media

Introduction

The term "time-based media" describes any artwork that has both physical and temporal dimensions.

"Contemporary artworks that include video, film, slide, audio, or computer-based technologies are referred to as time-based media works because they have duration as a dimension and unfold to the viewer over time."

Sometimes time-based media is also referred to as new media.

Documentation

The Guggenheim Museum has provided comprehensive information about the documentation of time-based media art.

Resources

Tech-Focus

EMG's Tech-Focus symposium is specifically aimed at educating conservators about the preservation of time-based media artworks, by bringing together professionals from a variety of different backgrounds, so that they can "cross-fertilize, and learn from one another".

Tech-Focus I dealt with video art, Tech-Focus II was about film and slide art, and the upcoming Tech-Focus III will address computer-based art.

Videos and synopses of most of the presentations are available on the Tech-Focus website.

Guidelines and Standards

• Matters in Media Art "This site aims to be a resource for collectors, artists, and institutions of all sizes caring for works of art that have moving image, electronic, and digital elements. If you have questions about how to acquire and preserve these works, here you will find practical tools and examples to guide you."

Further Reading

• Conservation of Time-Based Media Art at the Tate
• Matters in Media Art: Collaborating Towards the Care of Time-Based Media (MoMA)
• The Smithsonian's Time-Based Media and Digital Art Working Group
• Media Art Preservation Links (Netherlands Media Art Institute)
• Blog post by Mary Broadway about a 2014 AIC Annual Meeting presentation "“Establishing Time Based Media Conservation at the National Galleries of Scotland; Creating More in Times of Less” presented by Kirsten Dunne, paper conservator at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in Edinburgh, Scotland"

Further Watching

• Preserving Digital Art: A Case Study video from a 2012 Museum Computer Network conference panel, featuring Anne Goodyear, Associate Curator of Prints and Drawings, Smithsonian, National Portrait Gallery; Jerey Martin, Time-Based Art Conservator/Moving Image Archivist, Independent; Koven J. Smith, Director of Technology, Denver Art Museum; Penelope Umbrico, Artist/Photographer.