[-empyre-] story-time and the archive

[monica]

hi tim , norie and all,

Re; I'm wondering whether the event/artwork itself doesn't/shouldn't 
alter our conceptions of desire so that preservation and event are 
more interwoven in an ongoing, unpredictable way.

yes agree, it's on a spectrum between these desires and what desire 
is driving the impulse for preservation - preservation, establishment 
of a fixed value as a goal per se or using preservation strategies as 
the means/ basis to achieving durational transmissibility.

re; This could mean emphasizing the emulation of the events/artworks, 
networks, processes, procedures, and interactions more, say, than the 
reproduction or replication of particular source code, exhibition 
environments, or recording/playing instruments.

yes, think this gets close to a different desire of (re) generation 
that also admits 'loss' . or 'letting go'' as simon put it, and 
adjusting one's relation to this 'loss' as a space of reproduction:
'
so that: <in the emulation of the events/artworks, networks, 
processes, procedures, and interactions more, say, than the 
reproduction or replication of particula source codes...>

this provides for  a ' new' interactive space of reproduction', where 
the viewer/ interactor 's interaction is vital; to the works 
re-assembly, a space of encounter which is infinitely renewable in 
that the viewer is situated in the role of assembling and reviving 
what remains/ is preserved/ rather than only   being confronted by 
the determinations of what has been assembled as an ' authorised" 
version.

simon wrote:
I once had to  run a project that recovered and rebuilt a system that 
had been 'retired' three years earlier. This is never a simple 
process but if it was not considered during the build and design 
process I think it would have been impossible.

think this last sentence is very usefu in thinking about this, in 
terms of what the ' original' constituted and how " its present form" 
simultaneously indicates ' what its possible futures/ forms of 
reproduction might be.

i 've recently written a long essay looking at particular ' 
reproducing strategies' in relation to performance art which produce 
specific forms of continuity ,in - new continuums-  produced through 
the agency of new/ different/ related  authors e.g. filmmakers/ 
photographers/ writers/ archivists. it's far too long to add chunks 
from it here, but to try and summartise one of its main thoughts: 
the essay ( The Trouble with Performance Art), revolves around how 
the material / strategies/ experiences of a performance can be 
reproduced by those who encounter 'what remains" to enable, not a 
replication of the originatory  work, but a constructing of the work 
which reproduces it anew within the terms of what the work 
constitutes when it is encountered at any one time. (a travelling 
forward , rather than a looking back).

i.e. as the new authors step into the gap/ absence of the first 
author-they re-construct the work anew and also add it to a chain of 
experience which can travel into the future-  so, yes, the paradigm 
is storytelling/ fabulation; the wayward and additive energy of 
vitality rather than authority.

best for now,
monica








>>  Hi, Norie and Monica,
>
>
>>Your interwoven threads are extremely interesting and directly 
>>engage my own sense of archival practice.  I think that Monica is 
>>right on the mark when she says "the desire for an event/artwork to 
>>have duration is primarily concerned with unconstraining the 
>>artwork from its chronological assignment (to become untimely) so 
>>that it has the potential to continue to be to communicable within 
>>a continuum whose parameters of form and value are not 
>>predictable." But I'm not sure that I would strictly contrast that, 
>>anymore, with the "desire of preservation" ("to be timeless: 
>>unchangeable status quo/monumentalisation / stabilised form and 
>>value").  Particularly within the context of planned obselescence 
>>and and short shelf lives of recent new media art, I'm wondering 
>>whether the event/artwork itself doesn't/shouldn't alter our 
>>conceptions of desire so that preservation and event are more 
>>interwoven in an ongoing, unpredictable way.
>
>If so, then your combined emphases on storytelling (what Deleuze 
>calls "fabulation") becomes all the more important as a crucial 
>structural element of the archival process itself (since is also 
>something that Mickey pointed us toward via Derrida's Archive 
>Fever). This could mean emphasizing the emulation of the 
>events/artworks, networks, processes, procedures, and interactions 
>more, say, than the reproduction or replication of particular source 
>code, exhibition environments, or recording/playing instruments. 
>Such an emphasis would be on the open-endedness of fabulation, a 
>process that grows and changes in time, rather than 
>"incontrovertible status of value" that drives the work of most 
>museum collections and archives.
>
>Thanks for such stimulating thoughts.
>
>Best,
>
>Tim
>
>--
>Timothy Murray
>Professor of Comparative Literature and English
>Director of Graduate Studies in Film and Video
>Curator, The Rose Goldsen Archive of New Media Art, Cornell Library
>http://goldsen.library.cornell.edu
>285 Goldwin Smith Hall
>Cornell University
>Ithaca, New York  14853
>
>office: 607-255-4086
>e-mail: tcm1 at cornell.edu
>
>
>
>
>_______________________________________________
>empyre forum
>empyre at lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au
>http://www.subtle.net/empyre


-- 
Monica Ross
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