Conservation Planning for Media Arts
The connection between media art and evolving technology is problematic for the long-term preservation of art. Even new art pieces may become endangered at a rapid pace. MEHI – Media Art History in Finland project charted and piloted the conservation of media art through key artworks, whose conservation plans were made public for future use in exhibiting and preserving art.
The conservation plans were made in cooperation with artists, collection organizations, Nordic partners and the Metropolia University of Applied Sciences. The goal was to share knowledge for public use and to further develop the professional standards, education, research and collection work of media arts.
The need to increase competence in media art conservation has been noted in strategies and surveys by AV-arkki (2015), Frame Contemporary Art Finland (2018) and the Metkos Project at the Metropolia University of Applied Sciences (2021).
The objective of the MEHI project was to create conservation plans for ten diverse works of Finnish media art from different decades.The conservator charted out the history, context, intended meaning and condition of the selected piece, and then create a conservation plan based on the acquired information. The selected artworks were named by the consulting experts of MEHI. Conservation can not proceed without a conservation plan.
The conservation plan of an artwork within media arts may include:
- analysis of meaning
- historical context
- the history of the art piece
- the artist’s view of the art piece
- depiction of the artwork, its measurements and physical qualities
- evaluation and documentation of the artwork’s functionality
- condition evaluation of the artwork’s individual parts
- variation possibilities for the artwork’s parts
- ideal preservation conditions and instructions for handing
- evaluation of the need for conservation work and its possible costs
In practice a conservation plan report can be compiled through e.g. interviewing the artists, collecting literature and doing practical research on the selected artwork.
The conservation plans were turned into written reports. The plans and the acquired information were deposited in the MEHI database.
The blank documentation base for artworks was developed by Anniina Hatakka and can be downloaded for personal use through the MEHI material bank (Konservoinnin suunnittelun ja raportoinnin lomake, in Finnish).
FLASH – The Finnish Light Art Society with the conservators Anniina Hatakka and Karoliina Hämäläinen were responsible for the conservation planning work in the MEHI – Media Art History in Finland project, financed by AVEK, Kone Foundation, The Ministry of Education and Culture, Oskar Öflund Foundation, The Finnish Cultural Foundation and The Swedish Cultural Foundation in Finland.
The MEHI – Media Art History in Finland project 2021–2023, led by The Finnish Media Art Network, was realized in a consortium with AV-arkki, the Centre for Finnish Media Art, M-cult, Artists’ Association MUU, Poike Productio, SOLU / Bioart Society and FLASH – the Finnish Light Art Society.
