Conserving the Intangible: Strategies for the Preservation and Analysis of Sound Art (Interactive and Experience-Based Art Installations)
Author
Lara, Daniela Merediz
Term
4. term
Education
Publication year
2025
Submitted on
2025-08-09
Pages
103
Abstract
Art conservation offers many methods to protect cultural heritage and artworks. However, recent art, especially sound art installations, uses complex materials and ideas and often relies on how visitors experience the work. This makes such pieces vulnerable when treated with traditional conservation methods. This thesis proposes integrating systematic collection of audience experiences into a structured model for studying and preserving art, as a starting point for a hybrid model focused on sound art installations. The model brings together three kinds of information - theoretical, material, and experiential - to improve understanding, documentation, exhibition, preservation, and potential reinstallation of complex sound works. It uses the Decision-making Model for Contemporary Art Conservation and Presentation (a framework for analyzing, conserving, restoring, or installing contemporary artworks) and the art project Botaniq, where visitor experiences were collected as part of conservation, to identify the main obstacles institutions face when trying to preserve experience-based, interaction-dependent works within traditional frameworks. Guided by phenomenological and hermeneutical approaches - focused on lived experience and interpretation - the research proposes combining methods that can address the intangible aspects and the essence of the artwork as reflected in visitors' experiences in the exhibition space. The sound biennial MOMENTUM 13 in Norway serves as a case study to illustrate the conservation challenges of sound artworks and how such a platform could benefit from the proposed strategies. Overall, the study examines whether a hybrid approach that integrates not only theory and materials but also reflection on audience experiences can deepen understanding and support a new model for analyzing sound art installations, while encouraging the inclusion of data on viewers' subjectivity to enable more comprehensive conservation.
Kunstbevaring har udviklet mange metoder til at beskytte kulturarv og kunstværker. Men nyere kunst, især lydkunstinstallationer, bygger på komplekse materialer og idéer og afhænger ofte af publikums møde med værket. Det gør dem sårbare over for traditionelle bevaringsmetoder. Denne afhandling foreslår at integrere systematisk indsamling af publikums oplevelser i en struktureret model for undersøgelse og bevaring som et afsæt for en hybrid model med særligt fokus på lydkunstinstallationer. Modellen sammenholder oplysninger fra tre spor - teoretiske, materielle og oplevelsesbaserede - for at styrke forståelse, dokumentation, udstilling, bevaring og mulig geninstallation af komplekse lydværker. Undersøgelsen anvender Decision-making Model for Contemporary Art Conservation and Presentation (en ramme til at analysere, bevare, restaurere og installere samtidskunst) og kunstprojektet Botaniq, hvor besøgernes oplevelser blev indsamlet som en del af bevaringen, til at identificere de største barrierer, som institutioner møder, når erfaringsbaserede og interaktionsafhængige værker forsøges bevaret med traditionelle midler. Med en fænomenologisk og hermeneutisk tilgang - med fokus på oplevelse og fortolkning - foreslås en sammenføring af metoder, der kan fastholde værkets immaterielle sider og dets kerne, som de kommer til udtryk i udstillingsrummet. MOMENTUM 13, en lydbiennale i Norge, bruges som case til at vise lydkunsts konserveringsmæssige kompleksiteter og hvordan en platform som MOMENTUM kan drage nytte af de foreslåede strategier. Studiet undersøger, om en hybrid tilgang, der forener teoretisk og materiel analyse med refleksion over publikums oplevelser, kan styrke forståelsen af lydkunstinstallationer og bane vej for en ny analysemodeI, samtidig med at der åbnes for inddragelse af data om publikums subjektivitet og oplevelser, så værkerne kan forstås og bevares mere helhedsorienteret.
[This apstract has been rewritten with the help of AI based on the project's original abstract]
Keywords