“Preserving a Hardware-Dependent Digital Artwork: Investigating Disk Imaging and Emulation Strategies” presented by Smith, Cirella, Gates and Fox

Symposium:

• ISEA2023: 28th International Symposium on Electronic Art
• More presentations from ISEA2023:  

• Summit on New Media Art Archiving: Papers - Opening New Media Art Archives To The World

• Preserving a Hardware-Dependent Digital Artwork: Investigating Disk Imaging and Emulation Strategies

• Madeline Smith
• David Cirella
• Ethan Gates
• Claire Fox

Venue(s):

• Forum des Images, Paris, France

• This paper summarizes the efforts and findings of a collaborative case study undertaken by a team of digital preservation and conservation staff to preserve legacy Apple hardware included as part of an accessioned artwork Yale University Art Gallery. Intended to test the capabilities of the EaaSI (Emulation-as-a-Service Infrastructure) framework for assessment and exhibition of digital art, a number of specific technical and logistic hurdles in pursuing emulation raised challenges for long-term preservation workflows involving unique hardware.

Video:

Keywords:

• emulation
• disk imaging
• software preservation
• hardware preservation
• animation
• media arts preservation
• EaaSI

Category:

• Summit