DOI Heft:
Część IV. Sztuka XX i XXI wieku / Part IV. Art of the Twentieth and Twenty First Century
DOI Artikel:Nowak, Magdalena Nowak: Od obiektu do dokumentacji. Kolekcja Nowych Mediów w Muzeum Narodowym w Warszawie
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.45362#0400
Magdalena Anna Nowak
I From Object to Documentation.
The New Media Collection at the
National Museum in Warsaw
January 2013 marked the opening of the Gallery of 20th and 21st Century Art at the National
Museum in Warsaw. For the first time, the gallery became the home of moving image art pur-
chased by the museum and several films obtained through cooperation with the National Film
Archives. The introduction of video art to the Collection of Modern Art entailed establishing
a new sub-collection within it (fig. 1). The New Media Collection was officially established by
way of a resolution of the museum authorities of 29 April 2013.
For the first time in a long while, an inventory book was established in the museum which
boasts 237 such books altogether and over 800,000 works of art listed therein. We felt that we
were turning over a new leaf in the history of the institution. Even the choice of the inventory
name, “New Media,” involved great responsibility and was not an obvious one. On the other
hand, we were aware of the fact that the modest new collection merely supplemented the vast and
structured set of objects. This event gave us an opportunity to thoroughly analyse the possibili-
ties and limitations associated with the exhibition, storage and conservation of new media art.
New media - to quote Ryszard W. Kluszczyhski’s definition - may be understood as: “art created
using technical media; electronic, digital, interactive and network media art.”1 This definition
refers to various artistic activities, such as slide projections, sculptures incorporating video
or film images or sound, net art, time-based installations and artworks using computer tech-
nologies. Importantly enough, experiencing new media requires the passage of time,2 while
their physical existence is based on two components: encoded signal and display. Signal is
understood as encoded sounds or images which require specific equipment to be decoded.
Examples of the above include audio and video magnetic tapes, CDs, DVDs and computer
programmes. Display, on the other hand, refers to the space, lighting, sound and equipment
used to present the work.3
1 Ryszard W. Kluszczyński, Estetyka sztuki nowych mediów [online], [retrieved: 22 November 2013], p. 30, at:
<http: //www. medialarts. pl/download/skrypty/Estetyka-sztuki-nowych-mediow.pdf>.
2 Pip Laurenson, “Developing Strategies for the Conservation of Installations IncorporatingTime-Based
Media: Gary Hill’s Between Cinema and a Hard Place” [online], Tate Papers, vol. 1 (2004 [retrieved:
22 November 2013], at: <http://www.tate.org.uk/research/publications/tate-papers/developing-strategies-
conservation-installations-incorporating>.
3 Marie-Catherine Cyr, “Conservation Issues: The Case of Time-Based Media Installations” [online],
ANAGPIC, vol. i (2007), p. 2 [retrieved: 22 November 2013], at: <https://www.ischool.utexas.edu/~anagpic/
2oo7pdf/2oo/ANAGPIC_Cyr.pdf>.
I From Object to Documentation.
The New Media Collection at the
National Museum in Warsaw
January 2013 marked the opening of the Gallery of 20th and 21st Century Art at the National
Museum in Warsaw. For the first time, the gallery became the home of moving image art pur-
chased by the museum and several films obtained through cooperation with the National Film
Archives. The introduction of video art to the Collection of Modern Art entailed establishing
a new sub-collection within it (fig. 1). The New Media Collection was officially established by
way of a resolution of the museum authorities of 29 April 2013.
For the first time in a long while, an inventory book was established in the museum which
boasts 237 such books altogether and over 800,000 works of art listed therein. We felt that we
were turning over a new leaf in the history of the institution. Even the choice of the inventory
name, “New Media,” involved great responsibility and was not an obvious one. On the other
hand, we were aware of the fact that the modest new collection merely supplemented the vast and
structured set of objects. This event gave us an opportunity to thoroughly analyse the possibili-
ties and limitations associated with the exhibition, storage and conservation of new media art.
New media - to quote Ryszard W. Kluszczyhski’s definition - may be understood as: “art created
using technical media; electronic, digital, interactive and network media art.”1 This definition
refers to various artistic activities, such as slide projections, sculptures incorporating video
or film images or sound, net art, time-based installations and artworks using computer tech-
nologies. Importantly enough, experiencing new media requires the passage of time,2 while
their physical existence is based on two components: encoded signal and display. Signal is
understood as encoded sounds or images which require specific equipment to be decoded.
Examples of the above include audio and video magnetic tapes, CDs, DVDs and computer
programmes. Display, on the other hand, refers to the space, lighting, sound and equipment
used to present the work.3
1 Ryszard W. Kluszczyński, Estetyka sztuki nowych mediów [online], [retrieved: 22 November 2013], p. 30, at:
<http: //www. medialarts. pl/download/skrypty/Estetyka-sztuki-nowych-mediow.pdf>.
2 Pip Laurenson, “Developing Strategies for the Conservation of Installations IncorporatingTime-Based
Media: Gary Hill’s Between Cinema and a Hard Place” [online], Tate Papers, vol. 1 (2004 [retrieved:
22 November 2013], at: <http://www.tate.org.uk/research/publications/tate-papers/developing-strategies-
conservation-installations-incorporating>.
3 Marie-Catherine Cyr, “Conservation Issues: The Case of Time-Based Media Installations” [online],
ANAGPIC, vol. i (2007), p. 2 [retrieved: 22 November 2013], at: <https://www.ischool.utexas.edu/~anagpic/
2oo7pdf/2oo/ANAGPIC_Cyr.pdf>.