Echoes of Art was a symposium offered in conjunction with the exhibition, Seeing Double: Emulation in Theory and Practice. The morning session, "Magic Bullet or Shot in the Dark? Emulation As Preservation Strategy" focused on the elaborate process required to emulate The Erl King (1982-85) by Grahame Weinbren and Roberta Friedman. This case study served as a point of departure for examining such questions as how the technique of emulation can be applied to software, hardware, or ephemeral materials; the relationship between original hardware and meaning; and the changing roles of the artist and the institituion in relationship to the preservation of contemporary art.
JET SET WILLY VARIATIONS - Performance by jodi.org (Joan Heemskerk)
The afternoon session, "Generation Emulation: Games, Art, and Technological Nostalgia" took a broader look at the impact of emulation culture. Participants compared the strategies available to artists for resurrecting obsolete technologies and analyzed the Seeing Double survey for signs of consensus from the experts and the lay public on the success of emulation. Participants examined the retro-movements motivating emulation among players of computer games and the importance of a decentralized and deinstitutionalized process for the preservation of digital culture.
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This symposium was made possible by the support of the National Endowment for the Arts.Additional support was provided by the Daniel Langlois Foundation for Art, Science, and Technology. Participants were: