1. NETescopio:
10 open questions about
conservation of electronic art
Gustavo Romano
netescopio.meiac.es
gustavoromano.org

2. 1. NETescopio
About NETescopio
• online archive and Data Base
• stores mirror copies of net art works
• http://netescopio.meiac.es/

3. 2. NETescopio
The travelling exhibition
Disassemblings, Re/appropriations &
Intrusions
• is presented as a "mobile lab”
• a “device” to visualize processes
• with physical and virtual itineraries
• http://netescopio.meiac.es/DRI

4. 3. NETescopio
About the selection
• archiving vs. curating
• a reflection on the processes that led artists
to their development (rather than from an
analysis of the formal characteristics of the
works)
• 3 strategies that conformed 3 selections:
Disassemblings (2008), Re/appropriations (2009)
and Intrusions (2011).

5. 4. NETescopio
Disassemblings
works that, far from making an apology of the new
media per se, confront themselves with the concept
of technology as entertainment
• Disassembling INTERFACES
• Disassembling STEREOTPYES
• Disassembling NARRATIONS
• Disassembling DAILY LIFE
• Disassembling THE SYSTEM OF ART
• http://netescopio.meiac.es/

6. 5. NETescopio as case study
Re/appropriations
The artist’s role on the web will no longer be that of
a creator, but rather that of a "redirector" of
information.
• RE/MIXES
• RE/INTERPRETATIONS
• RE/ENGINEERING
• RE/COLLECTIONS
• RE/CIRCULATIONS
• http://netescopio.meiac.es/

7. 6. NETescopio as case study
Intrusions
artistic interventions in a new public space: Internet
• INTRUDERS IN PLATFORMS 2.0
• INTRUDERS IN THE PUBLIC SPACE
• VIRTUAL INTRUDERS
• INTRUDERS IN YOUR COMPUTER
• INTRUDERS IN THE CORPORATE WORLD
• http://netescopio.meiac.es/

8. 10 open questions about
conservation of electronic art

9. 7. Ten open questions about conservation
of electronic art
1- How to make enduring the
ephemeral?
• How to preserve the time.
• Art as conservation. Artists as curators.

10. 7. Ten open questions about conservation
of electronic art
1- How to make enduring the
ephemeral?
• How to preserve the time.
• Art as conservation. Artists as curators.

14. 7. Ten open questions about conservation
of electronic art
1- How to make enduring the
ephemeral?
• How to preserve the time.
• Art as conservation. Artists as curators.

21. 8. Ten open questions about conservation
of electronic art
2- Where's the music?
Is in the vinyl or in the jacket?
• Is the “naked” work enough ?
• Nam Jun Paik: the video or the TV?
• Looking at the finger and not what it is pointing
to?

22. 8. Ten open questions about conservation
of electronic art
2- Where's the music?
Is in the vinyl or in the jacket?
• Is the “naked” work enough ?
• Nam Jun Paik: the video or the TV?
• Looking at the finger and not what it is pointing
to?

25. 8. Ten open questions about conservation
of electronic art
2- Where's the music?
Is in the vinyl or in the jacket?
• Is the “naked” work enough ?
• Nam Jun Paik: the video or the TV?
• Looking at the finger and not what it is pointing
to?

34. 8. Ten open questions about conservation
of electronic art
2- Where's the music?
Is in the vinyl or in the jacket?
• Is the “naked” work enough ?
• Nam Jun Paik: the video or the TV?
• Looking at the finger and not what it is pointing
to?

37. 9. Ten open questions about conservation
of electronic art
3- How to preserve a drama
play?
• Net art as interventions in public space
• Ask a dramaturge!

38. 9. Ten open questions about conservation
of electronic art
3- How to preserve a drama
play?
• Net art as interventions in public space
• Ask a dramaturge!

42. 9. Ten open questions about conservation
of electronic art
3- How to preserve a drama
play?
• Net art as interventions in public space
• Ask a dramaturge!

45. 10. Ten open questions about conservation
of electronic art
4- Save the script or save the
score?
• Programming, source code, design, screens...
vs.
• Instructions, scores, work flows…

46. 10. Ten open questions about conservation
of electronic art
4- Save the script or save the
score?
• Programming, source code, design, screens...
vs.
• Instructions, scores, work flows…

55. 11. Ten open questions about conservation
of electronic art
5- Shall we ask the artist?
• DJ Mixes
• Original Free Adaptations
• Covers

56. 11. Ten open questions about conservation
of electronic art
5- Shall we ask the artist?
• DJ Mixes
• Original Free Adaptations
• Covers

60. 12. Ten open questions about conservation
of electronic art
6- What works to preserve? The
most aggressive or the weakest?
• Technological Determinism
• Technodiversity
• Technological complexity
• Artistic determinism

61. 12. Ten open questions about conservation
of electronic art
6- What works to preserve? The
most aggressive or the weakest?
• Technological Determinism
• Technodiversity
• Technological complexity
• Artistic determinism

66. 12. Ten open questions about conservation
of electronic art
6- What works to preserve? The
most aggressive or the weakest?
• Technological Determinism
• Technodiversity
• Technological complexity
• Artistic determinism

68. 12. Ten open questions about conservation
of electronic art
6- What works to preserve? The
most aggressive or the weakest?
• Technological Determinism
• Technodiversity
• Technological complexity
• Artistic determinism

70. 12. Ten open questions about conservation
of electronic art
6- What works to preserve? The
most aggressive or the weakest?
• Technological Determinism
• Technodiversity
• Technological complexity
• Artistic determinism

72. 13. Ten open questions about conservation
of electronic art
7- How to explain to future
generations what was the
Internet?
• The disappearance of Internet is inevitable
• Net art requires a pre-existing network
• No discolor, no fade, not degraded: or it is, or it is
not there anymore.

73. 13. Ten open questions about conservation
of electronic art
7- How to explain to future
generations what was the
Internet?
• The disappearance of Internet is inevitable
• Net art requires a pre-existing network
• No discolor, no fade, not degraded: or it is, or it is
not there anymore.

77. 13. Ten open questions about conservation
of electronic art
7- How to explain to future
generations what was the
Internet?
• The disappearance of Internet is inevitable
• Net art requires a pre-existing network
• No discolor, no fade, not degraded: or it is, or it is
not there anymore.

79. 13. Ten open questions about conservation
of electronic art
7- How to explain to future
generations what was the
Internet?
• The disappearance of Internet is inevitable
• Net art requires a pre-existing network
• No discolor, no fade, not degraded: or it is, or it is
not there anymore.

83. 14. Ten open questions about conservation
of electronic art
8- What is the best tactic to ensure
the survival of an art piece?
• The most expensive conservation and isolation
practice?
• The compulsive hyper-reproduction through any
media? Isn't it safer YouTube than a vault?
• The animals that survive, are those that best
defend themselves or those that reproduce the
most?

84. 14. Ten open questions about conservation
of electronic art
8- What is the best tactic to ensure
the survival of an art piece?
• The most expensive conservation and isolation
practice?
• The compulsive hyper-reproduction through any
media? Isn't it safer YouTube than a vault?
• The animals that survive, are those that best
defend themselves or those that reproduce the
most?

86. 14. Ten open questions about conservation
of electronic art
8- What is the best tactic to ensure
the survival of an art piece?
• The most expensive conservation and isolation
practice?
• The compulsive hyper-reproduction through any
media? Isn't it safer YouTube than a vault?
• The animals that survive, are those that best
defend themselves or those that reproduce the
most?

88. 14. Ten open questions about conservation
of electronic art
8- What is the best tactic to ensure
the survival of an art piece?
• The most expensive conservation and isolation
practice?
• The compulsive hyper-reproduction through any
media? Isn't it safer YouTube than a vault?
• The animals that survive, are those that best
defend themselves or those that reproduce the
most?

91. 15. Ten open questions about conservation
of electronic art
9- Preserve an individual or an
ecosystem?
• Botanical Garden versus Nature Reserve
• Network of relationships versus isolated works
• Naturalists, hunters and taxidermists

92. 15. Ten open questions about conservation
of electronic art
9- Preserve an individual or an
ecosystem?
• Botanical Garden versus Nature Reserve
• Network of relationships versus isolated works
• Naturalists, hunters and taxidermists

97. 15. Ten open questions about conservation
of electronic art
9- Preserve an individual or an
ecosystem?
• Botanical Garden versus Nature Reserve
• Network of relationships versus isolated works
• Naturalists, hunters and taxidermists

101. 15. Ten open questions about conservation
of electronic art
9- Preserve an individual or an
ecosystem?
• Botanical Garden versus Nature Reserve
• Network of relationships versus isolated works
• Naturalists, hunters and taxidermists

104. 16. Ten open questions about conservation
of electronic art
10- In the future… what kind of
buildings should we need for art?
• Prisons?
• Cemeteries?
• Recycling Centers?
• Controlling the reproduction vs. preservation care
• Art robots and behavior problems

107. 16. Ten open questions about conservation
of electronic art
10- In the future… what kind of
buildings should we need for art?
• Prisons?
• Cemeteries?
• Recycling Centers?
• Controlling the reproduction vs. preservation care
• Art robots and behavior problems

112. 16. Ten open questions about conservation
of electronic art
10- In the future… what kind of
buildings should we need for art?
• Prisons?
• Cemeteries?
• Recycling Centers?
• Controlling the reproduction vs. preservation care
• Art robots and behavior problems

116. NETescopio:
10 open questions about
conservation of electronic art
Gustavo Romano
netescopio.meiac.es
gustavoromano.org