Hillary Reeves | New York University (original) (raw)
Masters candidate at the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, New York University.
Supervisors: Melissa Rachleff Burtt and Christine Frohnert
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Papers by Hillary Reeves
According to conservator and NYU professor Christine Frohnert, 95 percent of electronic artworks ... more According to conservator and NYU professor Christine Frohnert, 95 percent of electronic artworks are in an unknown condition, which is an urgent issue for conservators and arts administrators. This paper explores conservation theory, contemporary art technical history, the interdisciplinary roles of art installers and audiovisual technicians, and current practices in installation documentation. Interviews with practicing conservators at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and Whitney Museum of American Art, as well as laboratory visits at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Museum of Modern Art are primary sources of information for this study. The research also draws on the work of Salvador Muñoz Viñas, a major theorist of contemporary art conservation and NYU Judith Praska Visiting Professor at the Institute of Fine Arts in the spring of 2015. His lectures, along with Pip Laurenson’s published writings as the head conservator of time-based media art at the Tate Modern, lay a theoretical foundation. The aim of the research is to explore the knowledge gap between
the conservator and the installation technician that emerges in various iterations of contemporary art and media art installations. I explain the need for better communication
in these separate departments by dissecting the commonly accepted principles of conservation and the memory-based approach of installation technicians. By investigating a cross section of general documentation practices (or lack of) in these American art museums, it is apparent that the survival of contemporary art will depend on the amount and quality of information collected in the present day.
According to conservator and NYU professor Christine Frohnert, 95 percent of electronic artworks ... more According to conservator and NYU professor Christine Frohnert, 95 percent of electronic artworks are in an unknown condition, which is an urgent issue for conservators and arts administrators. This paper explores conservation theory, contemporary art technical history, the interdisciplinary roles of art installers and audiovisual technicians, and current practices in installation documentation. Interviews with practicing conservators at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and Whitney Museum of American Art, as well as laboratory visits at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Museum of Modern Art are primary sources of information for this study. The research also draws on the work of Salvador Muñoz Viñas, a major theorist of contemporary art conservation and NYU Judith Praska Visiting Professor at the Institute of Fine Arts in the spring of 2015. His lectures, along with Pip Laurenson’s published writings as the head conservator of time-based media art at the Tate Modern, lay a theoretical foundation. The aim of the research is to explore the knowledge gap between
the conservator and the installation technician that emerges in various iterations of contemporary art and media art installations. I explain the need for better communication
in these separate departments by dissecting the commonly accepted principles of conservation and the memory-based approach of installation technicians. By investigating a cross section of general documentation practices (or lack of) in these American art museums, it is apparent that the survival of contemporary art will depend on the amount and quality of information collected in the present day.