Artwork collections gradually branch out to include works produced using technologies including video, sound, image, code, virtual or augmented reality, kinetic, digital or physical hybridity. These artworks are also dependent on software and hardware technologies regarding their representation. It is an urgent matter for all the cultural institutions bearing the responsibility of preserving the cultural legacy, to maintain these said artworks’ maintenance and endurance for the coming generations in the face of rapid changes occurring in related technologies.
The project made possible through the collaboration of scholars, new media and digital art conservators, software engineers, researchers, art world professionals and information managers from institutions including Berlin University of the Arts, Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe (ZKM), Institut National de l’Audiovisuel (INA), Rhizome, Sabancı University and Sakıp Sabancı Museum at foremost will revolve around questions below:
•    How and why should we preserve technological artworks?
•    How should we define and classify technological artworks?
•    What is the role of software in the preservation of technological artworks?
•    Recently, numerous artworks using technology are faced with the danger of disappearing as the software system, hardware and network infrastructure they employ become outdated. What measures should we take to maintain their endurance?
•    Would updating technological artworks per se rapid developments in their related fields affect their originality and historical traits?
•    How could we maintain the preservation of artworks created through web-based technologies?
•    How would web archives operate as a tool for both representing and preserving technological artworks?
•    Which responsibilities should artists, curators and collection managers take to maintain the preservation of technological artworks?
•    Which methods do contemporary museums apply to preserve and include technological artworks in their collections?
•    Which strategies should we develop to maintain the accessibility of technological artworks in the future?
 
Project team:
Selçuk Artut (Faculty member, Visual Art and Visual Communication Design – Sabancı University)
Cemal Yılmaz (Faculty member, Computer Science & Engineering – Sabancı University)
Osman Serhat Karaman (Digital Prservation Specialist, Sabancı University Sakıp Sabancı Museum)