Re: further to "The Paper Chase"

I work with collections within an art institution so i deal with 'hands-on'
with your issue…. but as an artist, I think your question is a good one.
>From the museological side of my life though, the answer is complicated.
The first issue is that technologies are always changing. This forces
institutions to change at the speed in which artists/mediums do. There
isn't the funding to keep up, nor the ability to deal with the bureaucracy
that it would take in order to keep up. Secondly, as an example, many of
the electronic media of the 60's and 70's are degrading at a fast rate,
thus, to a point, cautioning how institutions collect new media. With the
degradation of many electronic based works (i.e.. no replacement parts,
antiquated equipment's, etc…) a devaluing of a galleries collection
occurs(which runs contrary to most collection mandates). For a long time
now artists (including myself) love to fuck around with the idea of
disrupting certain notions of the 'archive'… . So there is a real battle
on - between the institutions mandate to taxonimize and the artists need to
be collected at any cost. From where i sit, i think it is up to the
strength, courage and intelligence of each individual gallery to write the
collections mandate in such a way that reflect contemporary thought. The
Walker is an example of a gallery that seems to have it right.


Reasons for collecting works on paper? They take up less storage room; if
they are "healthy" and kept in the right ph,rh and lux environments - they
will last for hundreds of years… they are cheaper than canvasses or any
other medium most often. This means that there is more acquisition budget
left over which often translates into more artists being acquired.

Boy, i think i just talked myself into doing printmaking.

regards,
Doug

—–Original Message—–
From:Magda [SMTP:[email protected]]
Sent:Monday, September 16, 2002 8:57 AM
To:[email protected]; [email protected]
Subject:RHIZOME_RAW: "The Paper Chase" panel discussion at Postmasters on
Tuesday 9/17


The Paper Chase:
Why do Many of Today's Leading Media Artists and Curators Choose to Present
Works on Paper?
Postmasters Gallery
Tuesday, September 17
7pm
459 West 19th Street (at 10th Avenue) New York, NY 10011
Telephone 212 727 3323

When one thinks of media art – video or net.art, for example – paper
seems
unrelated or even irrelevant. Yet media curators and artists often choose
to present works on paper (in the forms of prints, drawings, and
photography, for example) for aesthetic, archival, or financial reasons.
To
some, this might seem ironic or paradoxical: why take "one step forward,
two
steps back" in terms of choice of medium? Is there a conceptual choice
involved when a media artist or curator decides to use paper? Or are the
decisions merely practical? Our panel will discuss these issues by
presenting specific examples from various exhibitions and projects.

Edward Earle, curator, International Center for Photography

Mark Tribe, founder, Rhizome

ChanSchatz, artist duo and digital printmakers and Columbia University
School of the Arts professors

Magda Sawon, owner and director (with Tamas Banovich) of Postmasters
Gallery

moderator and organizer: Reena Jana, editor, Art on Paper
+ If the reader will keep me company I shall be glad.
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