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#0404
Magdalena Anna Nowak From Object to Documentation. The New Media Collection...
403
her book Voyage on the North Sea. Art in the Age of Post-Medium Condition (2000). The author
proved that thinking in terms of medium had become anachronistic. Krauss believes that one
should focus on the functioning of the work and its links it to other works rather than on the
strict distinction between various media.13
Another programme that is worth mentioning is Inside Installations: The Preservation of
Installation Art14 - a 3-year programme established in 2004 which consists in the creation of
30 specific case studies that may be used as examples of video conservation and installation
practices.
A modern museum is the product of Enlightenment ideas; even though 2ist-century museums
are vastly different from their predecessors, they have remained faithful to the positivist para-
digm. A museum’s actions are still structured around certain views, such as, e.g., the authenticity
and integrity of an artwork or the concept of the artist’s intentions. However, these principles
do not entirely apply to new media art. Ephemeral or immaterial works created using techni-
cal media require the development of strategies that will emphasize not the object alone, but
- above all - the conditions and context of its creation, display and reception, which are more
important than the sole fact of its material existence. Were we to stop treating authenticity
as a fundamental concept for a museum, we would have to reject its Enlightenment vision.15
In the 1920S, in his essay “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction,” Walter
Benjamin pointed to the impossibility of maintaining the old interpretation of authenticity
when it was possible to create endless reproductions of an artwork.16 Benjamin wrote about
the development trends in art in the production conditions that existed at the time - when
“outmoded concepts, such as creativity and genius, eternal value and mystery” were brushed
aside.17 However, it was the artists themselves who wreaked havoc in museum structures when
they began to create works that transgressed the boundaries of traditional media, introduced
the time factor to artworks and began to combine elements of various systems, departing from
the paradigm of modernist art so brilliantly described by Clement Greenberg.18
Still, the controversy as to what should be held at museums and how was not related to
new media alone. In the 1950s, the approach of some conservators from the National Gallery
in London to Old Master paintings proved controversial, sparking a debate on the legitimacy
of returning to the initial condition of a work of art. The conservators argued that they wanted
to uncover the original appearance of works in order to bring paintings to a condition that
best reflected the intentions of their creators. However, some researchers, including Ernst
Gombrich, objected to actions that erased the entire later history of the work and the related
13 Rosalind Krauss, Voyage on the North Sea. Art in the Age of Post-Medium Condition (New York, 2000).
14 Website: www.inside-installations.org.
15 Didier Delmas, Electronic Arts Unplugged: Museum Politics and the Preservation of New Media [online],
materials from the DOCAM seminar, 2006, p. 2, [retrieved: y November 2013], at: <http://www.docam.ca/images/
stories/pdf/seminaires/2oo6_oi_didier_delmas.pdf>.
16 Walter Benjamin, “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction,” trans. Harry Zohn, in
Walter Benjamin, Illuminations (New York, 1968) [online], [retrieved: 13 October 2014], at: <http://www.udel.edu/
History/suisman/6n_So5_webpage/benjamin-work-of-art.pdf>.
17 Ibid.
18 Clement Greenberg, “Modernist Painting,” in The Collected Essays and Criticism, vol. 3: Affirmations and
Refusals, icjjo-icjjó, John O’Brian, ed. (Chicago, 1993), pp. 85—93.
403
her book Voyage on the North Sea. Art in the Age of Post-Medium Condition (2000). The author
proved that thinking in terms of medium had become anachronistic. Krauss believes that one
should focus on the functioning of the work and its links it to other works rather than on the
strict distinction between various media.13
Another programme that is worth mentioning is Inside Installations: The Preservation of
Installation Art14 - a 3-year programme established in 2004 which consists in the creation of
30 specific case studies that may be used as examples of video conservation and installation
practices.
A modern museum is the product of Enlightenment ideas; even though 2ist-century museums
are vastly different from their predecessors, they have remained faithful to the positivist para-
digm. A museum’s actions are still structured around certain views, such as, e.g., the authenticity
and integrity of an artwork or the concept of the artist’s intentions. However, these principles
do not entirely apply to new media art. Ephemeral or immaterial works created using techni-
cal media require the development of strategies that will emphasize not the object alone, but
- above all - the conditions and context of its creation, display and reception, which are more
important than the sole fact of its material existence. Were we to stop treating authenticity
as a fundamental concept for a museum, we would have to reject its Enlightenment vision.15
In the 1920S, in his essay “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction,” Walter
Benjamin pointed to the impossibility of maintaining the old interpretation of authenticity
when it was possible to create endless reproductions of an artwork.16 Benjamin wrote about
the development trends in art in the production conditions that existed at the time - when
“outmoded concepts, such as creativity and genius, eternal value and mystery” were brushed
aside.17 However, it was the artists themselves who wreaked havoc in museum structures when
they began to create works that transgressed the boundaries of traditional media, introduced
the time factor to artworks and began to combine elements of various systems, departing from
the paradigm of modernist art so brilliantly described by Clement Greenberg.18
Still, the controversy as to what should be held at museums and how was not related to
new media alone. In the 1950s, the approach of some conservators from the National Gallery
in London to Old Master paintings proved controversial, sparking a debate on the legitimacy
of returning to the initial condition of a work of art. The conservators argued that they wanted
to uncover the original appearance of works in order to bring paintings to a condition that
best reflected the intentions of their creators. However, some researchers, including Ernst
Gombrich, objected to actions that erased the entire later history of the work and the related
13 Rosalind Krauss, Voyage on the North Sea. Art in the Age of Post-Medium Condition (New York, 2000).
14 Website: www.inside-installations.org.
15 Didier Delmas, Electronic Arts Unplugged: Museum Politics and the Preservation of New Media [online],
materials from the DOCAM seminar, 2006, p. 2, [retrieved: y November 2013], at: <http://www.docam.ca/images/
stories/pdf/seminaires/2oo6_oi_didier_delmas.pdf>.
16 Walter Benjamin, “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction,” trans. Harry Zohn, in
Walter Benjamin, Illuminations (New York, 1968) [online], [retrieved: 13 October 2014], at: <http://www.udel.edu/
History/suisman/6n_So5_webpage/benjamin-work-of-art.pdf>.
17 Ibid.
18 Clement Greenberg, “Modernist Painting,” in The Collected Essays and Criticism, vol. 3: Affirmations and
Refusals, icjjo-icjjó, John O’Brian, ed. (Chicago, 1993), pp. 85—93.