Skip to main content

Hardware Obsolescence

"Art In the Age of Obsolescence: Rescuing an Artwork from Crumbling Technologies" by Ben Fino-Radin. 2016. Article.
Ben Fino-Radin chronicles the porting of Teiji Furuhashi’s complex time-based media artwork, Lovers, to modern supports. The work’s original instantiation comprises 35 mm slides, LaserDisc analog video images, and computer-controlled projectors, and Ben Fino-Radin and Museum of Modern Art consultants worked to create an instantiation using new hardware and software.
https://stories.moma.org/art-in-the-age-of-obsolescence-1272f1b9b92e

"Overcoming Obsolescence: The Examination, Documentation, and Preservation of Nam June Paik’s TV Cello" by Lisa Conte, Christine Frohnert, Lisa Nelson, and Julia Sybalsky. 2012. Article.
Case study of a Nam June Paik three-channel analog video sculptural installation, held by the Emily Harvey Foundation. Specific attention paid to: CRT vs. LCD display iterations; differences between analog video source signals and divergent copy formats thereof; playback hardware obsolescence; and the importance of conservation documentation.
http://resources.conservation-us.org/emg-review/volume-two-2011-2012/conte/

"Shifting Equipment Significance in Time-Based Media Art" by Joanna Phillips. 2012. Article.
Three artworks are considered from the perspective of hardware variability: the interactive audio installation Random Access (1963/1999) by Nam June Paik; Marina Abramovic’s five-channel video sculpture Cleaning the Mirror I (1995); and, Paul Chan’s flash-animated projection 6th Light (2007). Hardware variability is investigated with regards to: artwork-specific dedicated equipment; CRT and flat-screen video display screens; and LCD and DLP video projector models. Variability potentiality is considered and justification rubrics employed.
http://resources.conservation-us.org/emg-review/wp-content/uploads/sites/15/2016/07/Vol-1_2010_Ch-6_Phillips.pdf

"The Management of Display Equipment in Time-based Media Installations" by Pip Laurenson. 2005. Article.
Early article investigating the vulnerabilities of display equipment in time-based media art works and implications for collections care.
www.tate.org.uk/file/pip-laurenson-management-display-equipment-time-based-media-installations

Back to Top