2009 - Media Art Needs Global Networked Organization & Support - Media Art History

Texto

MEDIA ART NEEDS GLOBAL NETWORKED ORGANISATION & SUPPORT – International Declaration

State of Affairs

Digital technology has fundamentally changed the way art is made. Over the last forty years, Media Art has become a significant part of our networked information society. Although there are well-attended international festivals, collaborative research projects, exhibitions and database documentation resources, Media Art research is still marginal in universities, museums and archives. It remains largely under-resourced in our core cultural institutions.

As a result of rapid changes in technology, many major works made even 10 years ago can no longer be shown or are disappearing without a trace. If this situation is not addressed, we face losing an art form that is a central part of our post-industrial digital culture. To date, systematic global preservation and documentation campaigns do not exist.

Many important online documentation and research projects are also disappearing from the web. As they falter, we risk losing their valuable material forever. Contemporary scientific research relies on access to shared data. The same is true of the Arts and Humanities, which lack a concerted international policy for sustainability and support of the digital heritage, such as exists partly in the natural sciences.

Several science disciplines have developed large collective projects to address the challenges and opportunities of our time by way of networked digital environments, based on a sustainable and international support structure. International Media Art research needs similar global organisation and collaboration.

Goals

a.) Establish international and sustainable funding structures Therefore it is essential to establish international and sustainable funding structures that can guarantee the persistence of these valuable resources, and to make use of networked collaboration to archive key data in a cooperative process of knowledge transfer between artists, institutions and researchers internationally. While many nations are devoting funds for interdisciplinary e-research, we urgently need global networked collaboration in Media Art research. Such an international structure/alliance needs the actively supported membership of media art organisations, archives and individuals. It should be supported with adequate funding and expertise from the existing networks of funding agencies, archives, online initiatives and research institutions.

b.) Supporting an International Association/Institution for Shared Data We urgently need global networked collaboration in Media Art research across the aforementioned networks. We need as many bridges into society as possible: archives, conferences, text repositories, collective database documentation, and preservation.

This alliance will promote collaboration and advocate the sustainability, understanding and appreciation of media art heritage by:

- Recognizing and building upon existing knowledge and resources

- Providing and fostering channels of communication

- Enabling the international research community to create/upload/access data to be shared.

- Encouraging peer exchange and addressing the new challenges of Media Art

- Developing scientific technologies for documentation and preservation of Media Art

- Providing inspiration and resources for curators, artists, scholars, educators and audiences

- Supporting the Media Art History network, its conference series, text repositories and scientific publications

- Promotion of new ways of understanding media art, science, technology and its histories

Only when we develop systematic strategies to address these challenges will we be able to fulfill the task that digital culture and its research demands of us in the 21st Century.

Signing Instructions

Governments, universities, research institutions, researchers, artists, academics, funding agencies, foundations, libraries, museums, archives, learned societies and professional associations who share the vision expressed in this Declaration are invited to join the signatories that have already signed the Declaration.

Contexto

Aparece en https://www.digitalmanifesto.net/manifestos/122/

Copyright Media Art History

Archivo

Archivo:Media Art History » Declaration.pdf

Enlaces

Primera edición:

URL: http://www.mediaarthistory.org/declaration

Wayback Machine: https://web.archive.org/web/20160527013640/http://www.mediaarthistory.org/declaration