[-empyre-] Appealing to the Archive

["Charlotte Frost" <charlotte@digitalcritic.org>]

I have been desperately trying to catch up with Empyre -- always about 3
days behind - in order to get involved with this discussion as it has
particular relevance to my PhD, and finally (hurrah) I have caught up!

My PhD looks at the historicisation of net art. I am not concerned with the
technicalities of archiving net art, creating emulation hard/software or the
various librarian-style initiatives set up to conserve such projects
(although all have their place in the historie(S) of net art), but rather
the impact of such ephemeral work (yes I know there have been others) on our
understanding both of what constitutes art, but more importantly, what
constitutes art history in that art history has for centuries (give or take
more recent interventionist work) been characterised by a reliance on old
objects. Basically, my concern is whether net art might inform - perhaps
reform - our way of constructing art histories by firstly rendering
longevity irrelevant, but secondly being in itself a highly critical
self-reflective discipline which in many ways emulates a New Art History.

I am therefore interested in artworks which defy historicisation, rewrite
our methods of historicisation or even rely on historicisation (in the form
of critique and debate) to actually be seen (some may remember my stint on
empyre in August looking at list serves which I see as a very specific art
historical tool in relation to net art).

I find somehow that projects set up to conserve net art in particular,
somehow miss the point in that it is such a performative/chatty/graffitti -
esque arena and that this about-turn, or vision of the art world in relief
i.e. deliberately refuting certain art world systems (art galleries, main
stream criticism, the art market) lets us look at art in a different way. I
wonder what ways there might be, therefore, for net art to occur and die but
inform future practice. I was interested in Simon Pockley's idea of
re-appropriation as a preservation strategy or Paul Annears question of why
anyone would archive this stuff at all?

I would be really interested (and I know by asking for replies I probably
wont get any :-( in people's thoughts on/examples of artworks that redefine
the way we understand archiving or art history, or even examples of artworks
whose supporting paraphernalia/documentation became the sole focus of their
existence, or anyone's abstract thoughts on what an un-archive might do to
art history as a whole. 

As well as the technicalities of creating the archive, what artworks are we
witnessing that redesign what the archive is, and what might be generated in
the vacuum of an un-archive??? 

Thanks

Charlotte Frost