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Errors in time
Archiving glitch art
If viewed as a temporal category, archives are collections that owe their existence to the attempt to store something in an authentic form and intend it to be used by the future curious. However, the very act of archiving implies that what we wish to preserve has felt the effects of age, but is nevertheless being stored for eternity. When talking about archiving digital art, especially glitch art, the visual aspect is intertwined with the technological aspect that makes it possible for the work to be created and represented. Glitch art illustrates the technological background of its own emergence, and its variable aspects may make it challenging to properly archive it. Many things can go wrong if we seek to preserve a work in the original form in which its author had envisioned it. For instance, the fact itself that a digital original has no analogue equivalent additionally complicates proper archiving. Mode of execution, programmes and equipment used, documentation strategy (if extant) – in short, the production, execution and documentation of a work – all influence the substance of what will truly be archived. Whether it will be the work or its documentation, depends on numerous factors which sometimes cannot be influenced, or indeed foreseen. The notion of “Darwinistic archiving” is thus indicative, as it speaks to the fact that it is the best-documented works that stand the greatest chance of remaining and/or surviving in an archive.
Since archiving digital art is an exceptionally sensitive affair due to the variability of such art, which depends on a quick exchange of equipment and programmes, it is reasonable to ask oneself, as part of the tenth edition of the /’fu:bar/ glitch art festival, about the possibilities of appropriating error as an archival modus operandi. This year’s /’fu:bar/ festival is concerned with archival practice through the prism of error and failure in do-it-yourself new media art and culture. This way, using itself as an example, the festival tackles the issue of archivization, with this year’s exhibition to be included in a future archive that will comprise all the artistic achievements of the previous editions of the festival, planned for the following year.
An archive of variable media is never complete; it constantly changes, emerging just as much as disappearing, both of which are contingent on many (un)expected factors, as the utilised technology and content largely overlap and build on each other. The awareness of the obsolescence of technology and the fact that every piece of software has an expiration date necessitate a rethinking of (more) sustainable technological infrastructure, which does not switch archives off with each expiring piece of software. For this reason, the /’fu:bar/ festival seeks to embrace error as something that is part and parcel of digital technologies. Instead of blind reliance on their efficiency and longevity, it approaches them with understanding of their fallibility and leaves open the possibility of malfunction. Likewise, the use of open code in the basic structure is also logical, as it supports the mutability of media and sees errors as indicators of sorts of the state of an archive, rather than of its total collapse.
Starting from its own infrastructure, /’fu:bar/ seeks to think the archive differently and build it collaboratively, on DIY principles. In a way, it takes its own history into its hands and records artworks so that there could exist a place containing a unitary collection of glitch art. On the one hand, this is an experiment, as there is a lot that still needs to be tried out, forgotten and recommenced, which depends on the knowledge and enthusiasm of the involved collectives and individuals. On the other hand, the thus created archive becomes a tissue that can be actualised in different ways. Its openness and accessibility are intended to motivate artists, curators and critics, as well as any other interested party, to engage in various interpretative interventions. The content, methodology or interpretation of an archive can become a starting point for speculating about not only glitch art, but the complex of issues surrounding digital art archives in general.
Irena Borić
Fubar texts are a part of the /’fu:bar/ 2024 Glitch Art program.
(text in Croatian)
Greške u vremenu
Arhiviranje umjetnosti glitcha
Promotrimo li arhiv kao vremensku kategoriju, riječ je o zbirci koja svoje postojanje duguje pokušaju da se nešto pohrani u vjerodostojnom obliku i namijeni nekim budućim znatiželjnicima. Međutim, sam čin arhiviranja implicira da je ono što želimo očuvati načeto zubom vremena, a istovremeno pohranjeno za vječnost. Kad govorimo o arhiviranju digitalne umjetnosti, osobito umjetnosti glitcha, vizualni aspekt isprepleten je s onim tehnološkim, koji omogućava nastanak i reprezentaciju rada. Umjetnost glitcha ocrtava tehnološku pozadinu vlastitog nastanka, a zbog njenih varijabilnih aspekata adekvatno arhiviranje može biti izazovno. Mnogo toga može poći po krivu ako nastojimo sačuvati rad u prvotnom obliku koji je autor_ica osmislila. Primjerice, već to što ne postoji analogni ekvivalent digitalnog originala dodatno komplicira primjereno arhiviranje. Način izvedbe, korišteni programi i oprema, dokumentacijska strategija (ako postoji) – ukratko produkcija, izvedba i dokumentacija rada – utječu na sadržaj onoga što ćemo doista arhivirati. Hoće li to biti rad ili njegova dokumentacija ovisi o brojnim čimbenicima na koje ponekad nije moguće utjecati niti ih predvidjeti. Stoga je indikativan pojam „darvinističko arhiviranje” jer govori o tome da najveću šansu za o(p)stanak u arhivu imaju upravo najbolje dokumentirani radovi.
Budući da je arhiviranje digitalne umjetnosti izuzetno krhko zbog njene varijabilnosti, koja ovisi o brzoj mijeni opreme i programa, logično se, u okviru desetog izdanja festivala glitch arta, zapitati o mogućnostima prisvajanja greške kao arhivskog modusa operandi. Preokupacije ovogodišnjeg festivala /’fu:bar/ su arhivske prakse kroz prizmu greške i neuspjeha u „uradi sam” novomedijskoj umjetnosti. Time se festival na vlastitom primjeru hvata u koštac s arhivizacijom, a ovogodišnja izložba će iduće godine postati dio arhiva koji će obuhvatiti sva umjetnička dostignuća proteklih festivalskih izdanja.
Arhiv varijabilnih medija nikad nije dovršen, on je u neprestanoj mijeni, u nastajanju podjednako koliko i u nestajanju, a i jedno i drugo ovisi o brojnim (ne)očekivanim čimbenicima jer se korištena tehnologija i sadržaj uvelike preklapaju i nadovezuju. Svijest o zastarijevanju tehnologije i činjenica da svaki softverski alat ima rok trajanja obavezno traže promišljanje održivi(ji)h tehnoloških infrastruktura koje ne gase arhiv sa svakim softverom na izdisaju. Stoga festival /’fu:bar/ želi prigrliti grešku kao nešto što je dio digitalnih tehnologija. Umjesto slijepog oslanjanja na njihovu učinkovitost i dugovječnost, pristupa im s razumijevanjem njihove pogrešivosti i nestabilnosti te im ostavlja mogućnost kvara. Utoliko je i logična uporaba opreme otvorenog koda u osnovnoj strukturi jer ona podržava promjenjivost medija i u greškama vidi svojevrsne indikatore stanja arhiva, radije nego njegov potpuni krah.
Polazeći od vlastite infrastrukture, /’fu:bar/ nastoji misliti arhiv drugačije i (iz)graditi ga suradnički na „uradi sam” principima. Na neki način vlastitu povijest uzima u svoje ruke i bilježi umjetničke radove kako bi postojalo mjesto na kojem stoji jedinstvena zbirka umjetnosti glitcha. S jedne strane riječ je o eksperimentu jer mnogo toga treba tek isprobati, zaboraviti i nanovo početi, a to ovisi o znanju i entuzijazmu uključenih kolektiva i pojedinaca. S druge strane, nastali arhiv postaje tkivo koje je moguće aktualizirati na različite načine. Njegova otvorenost i dostupnost imaju za cilj potaknuti umjetnike_ce, kustose_ice i kritičare_ke te sve zainteresirane na različite interpretativne intervencije. Sadržaj, metodologija ili interpretacija arhiva može postati polazišna točka za promišljanje umjetnosti glitcha, ali i problematike arhiva digitalne umjetnosti uopće.
Irena Borić
