Conserving the Intangible: Strategies for the Preservation and Analysis of Sound Art (Interactive and Experience-Based Art Installations)

Abstract

The art conservation practice has developed diverse methods to adequately preserve cultural heritage and artworks. However, recent decades of art production, characterized by complex materialities with underlying concepts that shape the identity of the works, challenge these practices. These characteristics are especially true for sound art creations and installations, which become increasingly vulnerable when collected and preserved through a traditional conservation approach. This research aims to propose methods for integrating data-gathering strategies that focus on capturing viewer's experience into a structured model for the study and conservation of art, serving as a starting point for the development of a hybrid model with a primary focus on preserving sound art installations. This is achieved by integrating information obtained from theoretical, material, and experiential dimensions to enhance the understanding, documentation, exhibition, preservation, and potential reinstallation of complex sound works. Using both the Decision-making Model for Contemporary Art Conservation and Presentation, a framework designed to guide the analysis, approach, conservation, restoration, or installation of contemporary art productions, and the art project Botaniq, where visitors’ experiences were collected as a form of conservation, the research identifies the main obstacles and challenges faced by institutions and collections when preserving, within a traditional conservation framework, experience-based artworks that depend on visitor interaction, such as various expressions of sound art. Aided by a phenomenological and hermeneutical approach, the research proposes a merging of methods that can aid in understanding and preserving the intangible aspects and essence of the artwork, as reflected in visitors’ experiences within the exhibition space. Using the sound biennial, MOMENTUM 13 in Norway, as a case study to exemplify the complexities that sound artworks have in terms of their conservation, as well as delving into how a platform such as MOMENTUM could benefit from the application of the proposed strategies. The study examines whether a hybrid approach, integrating not only theoretical and material analysis but also a reflection over the audience’s experiences, can enhance the understanding of sound art installations and facilitate the development of a new model for their analysis, in addition to opening a conversation about the relevance of including data that allows for tapping into the viewers’ subjectivity and experience, facilitating a thorough understanding of the work and its integral conservation.

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A master programme thesis from Aalborg University

Conserving the Intangible: Strategies for the Preservation and Analysis of Sound Art (Interactive and Experience-Based Art Installations)