Archive Ether: Metadata Mapping and the Preservation of New Media Art

Though previous art eras shared a fixed mortality, the preservation of new media works lacks a codified and universal system of care for posterity. Paintings and object conservation labs exist in most museums, while the preservation of born-digital or new media art has yet to secure that same universal attention, and thus is more vulnerable than its predecessors in more traditional media. As projects atrophy in old technology, the wake of new media art rapidly diffuses, leaving a gap in our collective art history. And so the issues of where such ephemeral and variable media art might fit in our modern museums and our cultural memories remain to be determined. These issues are immediate, and few standards have been established for conservation. Thus, the diversity of media continues to grow at an alarming rate, the problems with preservation of these media continue to aggravate, and this thesis acknowledges these issues, while also suggesting that the culture of conservation, and curation must likewise accept an overhaul of traditional practice moving forward.