Proliferative Preservation
Symposium:
- ISEA2011: 17th International Symposium on Electronic Art
- More presentations from ISEA2011:
Session Title:
- New Media Archives- New Intelligent Ambiances
Presentation Title:
- Proliferative Preservation
Presenter(s):
Venue(s):
Abstract:
Panel: New Media Archives- New Intelligent Ambiances
You can’t save the spirit of a new media work by fixing it in time or place, anymore than you can save a life of a butterfly by pinning it to a wall. Animated beings persevere not by stasis but by mutation and replication, so this talk explores such “proliferative preservation” as a strategy for preserving the notoriously mercurial artifacts of new media. The current state of proliferative preservation includes such models as the Variable Media Questionnaire; the future may hold more speculative evolutionary paradigms such as algorithmic and ecological archives. Generally considered a culprit in the destruction of traditional human artifacts, nature may end up serving as the inspiration for such new automated paradigms for the perseverance of culture. Yet, as successful as genetic algorithms have been in preserving the petaBytes of information stored in the DNA of living creatures, harnessing genetic algorithms to propagate human artifacts would breed a new host of ethical questions about authenticity and responsibility.