Seeing Double: Documenting mixed reality in the museum and beyond

6:30pm, Tue 28 Feb 2023

This event is part of our Past Programme

In this online discussion we explore the ‘curatorial headache’ of how mixed reality art should be documented from the perspective of conservators, artists and technologists. Traditional forms of art documentation risk flattening the dynamic and relational aspects of interactive artworks, and often occlude the agency of the viewer and their experience. Furthermore, because immersive media (particularly AR) deploy camera technologies to present work and also to preserve it, documentation becomes a place where different regimes of representation and technologies of vision intersect. How might the cultural value and future memory of mixed reality projects be secured by progressive documentation practices?

Our panelists who will consider these problems include Paul Tennent from Nottingham University’s Mixed Reality Lab, pioneering artist Tamiko Thiel, and sasha arden from the Time Based Media conservation team at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation and Museum. The event is chaired by Annet Dekker (University of Amsterdam) and Katrina Sluis (Australian National University).

Biographies

sasha arden is the Conservation Fellow, Time Based Media at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation and Museum. They graduated in 2022 from the dual-degree Master’s program in art history and conservation at the Institute of Fine Arts NYU, with a focus in time-based media. sasha embraces the long-term thinking and development of appropriate stewardship practices while negotiating ecosystems of stakeholders and values unique to each artwork. Their ongoing research examines the intersection of technical capabilities and the philosophical and ethical questions arising through the conservation process, often questioning conventional approaches in pursuit of a holistic outlook on the integrity of cultural assets.

Paul Tennent is Assistant Professor in the Mixed Reality Lab at the School of Computer Science at the University of Nottingham where he works with artists on creative applications of a range of technologies. Recent projects include ‘Thresholds’ (2017), Mat Collishaw’s recreation of the world’s first photographic exhibition as an immersive multiuser VR experience and ‘Eye as Witness’ (2020) a mixed reality experience about Holocaust photography that explores the political and moral motives for witnessing.

Tamiko Thiel is a digital artist who works with an array of New Media techniques including AR, VR, video installation, net art and digital 2D and 3Dprint. She is fascinated by the interplay of space, place, the body and cultural identity. Her career has spanned three decades, using the possibilities of Digital Art in inventive and inspiring ways. Notable projects include a collaboration with Steven Spielberg, Starbright World, AR interventions at the MoMA and Venice Biennale and Unexpected Growth, a digital installation, commissioned by the Whitney Museum in 2018 and is now in its collection.

This event forms part of the AHRC funded research project Documenting Digital Art, a collaboration between University of Exeter, London South Bank University, Australian National University, LIMA and The Photographers’ Gallery.