ARCHIVE MATTERS – CASE STUDIES

Three evenings broach important questions concerning the practice of conserving and archiving audiovisual art. Frank Theys’ 1989 work Oratorium for Prepared Video Player and Eight Monitors is a first case study; while the artists Ronny Heiremans & Katleen Vermeir and Pieter Geenen speak about their experiences in an experimental research project.

Since 2005, Packed – a joint venture between Argos, eDavid, Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens (MDD), Museum of Contemporary Art Antwerp (M HKA) and the Municipal Museum of Contemporary Art in Ghent (S.M.A.K) – has been gathering knowledge on the inventorisation, conservation and providing access to audiovisual arts and audiovisual documents about art, which it then makes available to the sector. Together with the M HKA, Packed dusted off Frank Theys’ 1989 work Oratorium for Prepared Video Player and Eight Monitors as a case study. A discussion evening examines questions about the archiving and conservation of obsolete playback technology, an issue closely connected with the safeguarding of the work in the long term.

In a second study of practices, Argos joins forces with Constant, an interdisciplinary workplace concerned with the ‘culture and ethics of the web’. Constant’s artistic practices are inspired by the way technological infrastructure, data exchange and software determine our everyday life. Their main areas of work are free software, alternatives to copyright and cyber feminism. Their Active Archives project concentrates on the relationship between archives and the internet. The artists participating in this research project are Ronny Heiremans & Katleen Vermeir and Pieter Geenen, all of whom have connections with the Argos collection. A discussion evening presents the research results and gives the artists the opportunity to speak about their findings.

Related events

• Frank Theys - Oratorium for prepared video player and eight monitors

This event is part of OPEN ARCHIVE #2 - REFLECTIONS ON CONTEMPORARY ART, MEDIA CULTURE AND ARCHIVING

Subevents

• Frank Theys in discussion with Rony Vissers, Emanuel Lorrain & Christine Lambrechts about Oratorium for prepared video player and eight monitors
• Open archives, Active archives? - #1: Digital properties. An evening with Ronny Heiremans & Katleen Vermeir. Discussions, screenings and presentations
• Open archives, Active archives? - #2: Writing with video. An evening with Pieter Geenen. Discussions, screenings and presentations