MoMA | Tag: Media Conservation

Posts tagged ‘Media Conservation’

July 21, 2016 | Collection & Exhibitions, Media Conservation

Restoring Teiji Furuhashi’s Lovers

Posted by Ben Fino-Radin, Associate Media Conservator, Department of Conservation

The view from the entrance of Teiji Furuhashi’s Lovers. 1994. Computer controlled, five-channel laser disc/sound installation with five projectors, two sound systems, two slide projectors, and slides (color, sound), overall 32′ 10″ x 32′ 10″ (1000 x 1000 cm). Gift of Canon Inc. © 2016 DUMB TYPE. Photo: Ben Fino-Radin

Imagine yourself standing in a dark, cavernous space: a perfectly square room with a high ceiling and black walls so dark that the clean, glossy white floor seems suspended in space. In the center of the room a tall metal tower beams light and emits the robotic sounds of computer-controlled motors.

May 20, 2015 | Media Conservation

Preserving the Technical History of Media Works

Posted by Peggy Griesinger, National Digital Stewardship Resident, Department of Conservation

My colleagues in media conservation have spent the last few weeks providing insight into our work at MoMA. This post will give you an idea of one small part of media conservation that is aimed at improving documentation policies related to the process history of time-based media. My role in media conservation over the past eight months at MoMA is, officially, the National Digital Stewardship Resident.

April 8, 2015 | Conservation, Media Conservation

Digitizing MoMA’s Video Collection

Posted by Peter Oleksik, Assistant Media Conservator

Three years after the advent of the Portapak (the first portable video recorder), MoMA showed Nam June Paik’s Lindsay Tape (1967) as part of the landmark 1968 exhibition The Machine as Seen at the End of the Mechanical Age, organized by K.G. Pontus Hultén. The piece consisted of two, half-inch reel-to-reel decks that were spaced 10 feet apart, with the tape (Paik’s original!), jerry-rigged together to allow it to loop continuously. After a week on view, the wear on the tape proved too much. It began to break down and was taken off view (and was almost lost to history). Despite this rather daunting introduction to the fragile and fugitive nature of video, the Museum began to formally acquire video works in the late 1970s,

March 24, 2015 | Conservation, Media Conservation

What Does a Media Conservator Do?

Posted by Kate Lewis, Media Conservator, Department of Conservation

Media conservation is responsible for the audio, 35mm slide, performance, software, video, and film-based artworks in MoMA’s collection, caring for them in collaboration with colleagues across the Museum’s departments including Audio Visual, Curatorial, Information Technology, and Registrar. The first conservation position at MoMA was created in 1959 for a paintings conservator, and since then the Conservation Department has evolved to include specialists in sculpture, paper, photography, conservation science, and most recently media, in 2007.

May 8, 2013 | Behind the Scenes, Conservation

Conserving a Nam June Paik Altered Piano, Part 2

Posted by Glenn Wharton, Time-Based Media Conservator

After exhaustive research prior to conserving Untitled (Piano), it was time for reflection. MoMA curators and conservators discussed the difficult decisions ahead. We knew that Nam June Paik playfully changed his works with each installation, and often incorporated new audio and video technologies into his older video sculptures. Should we continue this tradition, or freeze the existing technologies at the moment of his death?

April 15, 2013 | Behind the Scenes, Conservation

Conserving a Nam June Paik Altered Piano

Posted by Glenn Wharton, Time-Based Media Conservator

Nam June Paik. Untitled. 1993. Player piano, fifteen televisions, two cameras, two laser disc players, one electric light and light bulb, and wires. Overall approximately 8' 4" x 8' 9" x 48" (254 x 266.7 x 121.9 cm), including laser disc player and lamp. Bernhill Fund, Gerald S. Elliot Fund, gift of Margot Paul Ernst, and purchase. © 2013 Estate of Nam June Paik

Nam June Paik. Untitled. 1993. Player piano, 15 televisions, two cameras, two laser disc players, one electric light and light bulb, and wires, overall approx. 8′ 4″ x 8′ 9″ x 48″ (254 x 266.7 x 121.9 cm), including laser disc player and lamp. Bernhill Fund, Gerald S. Elliot Fund, gift of Margot Paul Ernst, and purchase. © 2013 Estate of Nam June Paik

In 1993 MoMA acquired a piano modified with a floppy-disc drive player unit. In the gallery it plays jazz show tunes really loud. The piano also has 15 cathode ray tube (CRT) monitors stacked on it.