Echoes of Art: Emulation As a Preservation Strategy
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
1071 Fifth Avenue (at 89th Street)
New York
City
8 May 2004
INTRODUCTION
John G. Hanhardt, Senior Curator of Film and Media, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
Jean Gagnon, Executive Director, Daniel Langlois Foundation for Art, Science, and Technology
introductions
"the ideas that went into The Erl King"
"the physical installation -- the presentation of the piece has been different"
"the concept of emulation"
"it wasn't a straight forward emulation"
"idiosyncrasies of an earlier technology"
"where it affirms our conservator’s training"
"a contemporary art museum is a really complex idea"
"a shift that we’re seeing in museums"
"the whole question of resources"
questions from the audience
GENERATION EMULATION: GAMES, ART AND TECHNOLOGICAL NOSTALGIA
MAGIC BULLET OR SHOT IN THE DARK: EMULATION AS PRESERVATION STRATEGY
introductions
survey says
jet set willy
"this issue of nostalgia and performance"
"I think emulators have gotten a bit shortchanged"
"a show called Games "
"the first time I presented software on a wall"
"I’m seeing triple"
"new media is like a shark"
"questions from the audience"
JET SET WILLY PERFORMANCE
images

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.

Click on any of the quotes on left to read the related part of the transcript.

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: