versions, variations, and variability: ethical considerations and conservation options for...
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American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works
Washington DC
The lectronic Media Review is published once eve ry two years in print format by t he Elect ron ic Med ia Group EMG), a spec ia
group of the American Ins ti tute for Conservat ion of His toric and Art is tic Works AIC). The lectronic Media Review is distributeda benefit to members of EMG who held membership duri ng the year of the issue Additional copies or back issues are availab le fro
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii
Papers presented at the Electronic Media Group SessionAIC 39th Annual Meeting May 31 - June 1 2011 Philadelphia Pennsylvania
Overcom ing Obsolescence :The Examination, Documentation, and Preservation of Nam June Paik s TV elloLISA CONTE,CHRISTINEFROHNERT, LISA NELSON, ANDJULIASYBALSKY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Risk Assessment as a Tool in the Conservation of Software-Based ArtworksPATRICIA FALCAO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
The Tree Decision-MakingModelfor the Preservation ofTechnological EquipmentforTime-Based Media Art:ADOCAMResearch Tool OutcomeRICHARD GAGNIER . . . . . . . . . . 2 1
Acquisitionand InstallationofTime-Based Artat The HirshhornMuseum: lending ElectronicMediaSARA GORDON . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Versions, Variations, and Variability: Ethical Considerations and Conservation Options for Computer-Based ArtHANNABARBARAHOLLING 33
Developments at Tate in the Conservation of Artists Video as File-Based DataPIP LAURENSON . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Anatomyof the Analog:The Preservation of Frank Theyss Video InstallationOratoriumforPrepared Video Player and Eight Monitors(1989)EMANUELLORRAIN . . . . . . . 49
Restoration of MoldedVideotapes: Research on Vacuum-Freeze-Dryingof Water Damaged VideotapesAGATHE JARCZYK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Acquisitionand InstallationofTime-Based Art atThe Hirshhorn Museum: Changing PracticesJEFF MARTIN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Mass MigrationofArchival Video Collections:Open Source Tools for Managing DigitizationProjectsDONALD MENNERICH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
CollaborativeConservation:Sharing Expertise at The GoodwillComputer MuseumVIRGINIALUEHRSEN AND KAREN L. PAVELKA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
iv The Ee ctronic Media Review VolumeTwo 2013
Papers p resented at the Electronic Media Group Session .AIC 40 th Annual Meeting May 8-11 2012 Albuquerque New Mextco.
Moving Pictures: Restoring Roy lichtenstein s Foray Into Film . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .CLARE BELL .
Rapid Identification of Sticky Shed Syndrome in MagneticTape Using ATR FTIRand MultivariateStatisticsERIC BREITUNG, SAMANTHASKELTON, AND STEPHEN MORGAN
Conservation in Collections of DigitalWorks of Art. .BEN FINO-RADIN . . .
Conservation of HistoricCathode RayTube-Based Artworksfrom the 1960sCHRISTINE FROHNERT . .
Geeks, Boffins, andWhiz-Kids: TheKey Role of the Independent Expert inTime-Based Media Conservat ionKATEJENNINGSANDTINAWEIDNER
Toward an Ontologyof Audio PreservationS R H NORRIS
Acts of Non-Conservation: Developing More Effective MeansofCommunicationand AdvocacyThrough MetadataJOS UA M RANGER . . . . . . .
Fundamentals of he Cathode RayTube Based Display and its Maintenance and ConservationWithinContemporary ArtworksCHI T\ EN LUI ND R PH ELE S H IRLEY . . . .
Capture Software Study for Preservation of Analog VideotapeL UREN SORENSEN .
Fading Out: The Endof 35 MMSlide TransparenciesTIN WEIDNER . . .
Guidelines for Authors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
he lectronic Media Review Volume Two2013
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Presented t the ElectronicMediaGroupSession AIC39thAnnualMeetingMay3 June 7 207 Philadelphia PA.
VERSIONS VARIATIONS ANDV RI ILITY : ETHICALCONSIDERATIONSANDCONSERVATIONOPTIONS FOR COMPUTER-BASEDART
HANNABARBARAHOLLING
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IN RODUCTION
S ince th e introduct ion of th e Fluxus ar t movement in
the 1960s and Nam June Pa ik's co ronat ion as one of
the und isp uted fathe rs of video a rt, au d iovisua l media
have been e volving and tak ing ove r the art scene. In art
today their ubiqu itous presence is self-evide nt; it is diffi
cult to pict ure art pract ices, m useum d isplays, and com
me rcial ar t g a llery spaces wit hout media wor ks . With th e
develop me nt of new technologies and the ever -s horter
life cycles of soft wa re and hardware equ ip ment , a new
approach to their implementatio n and maintenance has
bee n sough t. It is no s ur prise that t h e d issemination of
new e lec tron ic media has inev ita b ly in troduce d the top ic
of their preservat ion, fo llowed by th e muc h-deb at ed di
lemmas o f mig rat ion , emulatio n , and rein t e rpre t ation o f
what could already be seen as histo r ical ins ta llatio ns.
Different disco urses foc used on ma inta in ing the for mat s
and forms r ap id ly beco m ing obsolete, in orde r to a llow
th e m to be viewed a nd appreciated by contemporary and
futur e a ud iences . As a consequence, the complex issue
of dev is ing s t rateg ies for th e preservation of techn ical
heri t age for future generat ions became the center of
var ious ini t iat ives . One of them - the Obso let e Equip
m ent Project - gave rise to t he author 's invo lveme n t in
resear ch on conservation of comp uter-based ar t and this
pape r (Obsolete Equ ipment 2009).
Giving th e example of t he spec ific computer -based
artwork , / Eye 1993) by Bill Sp inhoven van Ooste n
(b. 1956) distr ib uted by t he Nether lands Med ia Art In
st itute , Amsterdam (NIMk), this paper will discuss its
te c hnologically comp lex nature. The iss ues pertaining to
its recovery, conse rvation, and presenta t ion w ill be ad
dressed . //Eye beca me a particu lar ly challenging c ase
fo r a nalys is due to its unstab le , processual na t ure , the
recursive obso lesce n ce of its display appa ratus , and the
artist 's ongoing engagement in t he a rtwo rk's development. The in iti a l setting of //Eye when it entered the
col lectio n was complicated by the lack of c larity of its
status, mainly due to th e complexity of institutional d is
t rib ut ion and acquisitio n proced ures. I n th e early stages
4
HANNABARBARAHOLLING
of deal ing with media co llec t ions, at least fo ur equip
ment versio ns and a num b er of site-spec ific va riations
of //Eye were generated, an outcome t riggered by tech
nolog ica l obsolescence and ins t itut ional mainte nance
hab its . Mos t rece ntly, a dec isio n was made to recover
the his tor ical func t ionality of //Eye by mea ns of recrea t
ing and presenting it to the audience in its init ial, a nd
additionally newer, virtualized form.
The fo llowing will lead the reader through the life of
//Eye, addressing it s var iable na t ure a nd mai n charac
te rist ics. I will exp lain the reasons w hy com put er-ba sed
art has received little at tention in the profession, how its
tr ansito ry natu re is be ing adapted to inst itutiona l con
straints, and the way in wh ich the emergence o f versi ons
ch al lenges co nse rvatio n eth ics. One of the focal points
of th is essay will be //Eye s init ial status at the po int
of i t s co m mission and subse qu ent acqu isi t ion. Finall y I
wiII show how the recovery of //Eye has been managed
and what the possible options are for its f ut ure ex istence.
CHALLENG S OF COMPUER BA ED ARTWORKS
The fact tha t t he topic o f conservat ion and p resentat ion
of computer -b ased art has attracted I tt le notice so far
is mai n ly due to th e lack of specif ic expertise among
ins t itutions and ca ret akers . Curatorial and a rt his torical
knowledge abo ut new med ia still has to be en hanced to
e ncompass new se t s of categor ies that involve interact iv
ity, connec t ivity, and computabi lity (Graham and Cook
2010) . The t e ndency to isola te these ar t forms from
conventional art, or its ghetto izatio n in th e galleries,
ep it om ize the often difficult re la t ionship that instit utions
ma inta in with them (Pau l 2007, 251).
For some time, on a technical level, competence in
ma inta ining and prese rving computer -b ased works has
been rare and unapprec iated. At times it is t heir technical co mplexity tha t agg ravates the access t o a nd un
de rstanding of th e functio na lity an d specificity of these
objects . As a resu lt, only a small numbe r of co mp uter
based works find their way into publ ic collec ti ons and
e lectronic Media Review VolumeTwo 2013
VERSIONSVARIATIONSANDVARIABILITY:ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS AND CONSERVATION OPTIONSFORCOMPUTER-BASED ART
fewer enter pr ivate hands. Although va riabi lityv nseems to have been bu i lt in to tec hnology from the very
beginning Rin ehart 20 1 1), the ability to we igh t he im
portance of t he technological subst rata on wh ich the art
works ope rate and thei r conceptual conten t translated
into an aest het ic ou t put, remains one of the most chal
lenging tasks i n the conservatio n of computer-based a rt.
Another reason why source code -based art has att racted
littl e atte ntion amo ng muse um professiona ls might be
that besides maintaining crea t ive autho rship , its cre
a o rs also play the role of technician w hen it comes to
reins ta lling, adj usti ng, arrang ing, and maintai n ing their
artworks. Care t akers and institutions have learned that
only by involving artis t s in col laborative, sy nergetic co
opera tion can they ensure the pro per performance of
computer-based ar t d isplays. These col laboratio ns are
invaluable and much app rec iated as a source of cultural,
socia l, and technical know ledge . They a lso challenge the
common co nservatio n approach ltlat attempts to main
tain an artwor k's or iginal or authen t ic state . Con servation
ethics that have driven t he profession for the las t fifty
yea rs have to be reconsidered an d adapted to a grea t
numbe r of comp uter -based installat ions . A cal l for dif-
ferent approaches often evokes heated discussion in the
conse rvati on field.
ONTHE INTEGRITY AND V RI BILITY OF COMPUTER BASED
ART
The te rm co mput er-based art is wide a nd difficu lt to nar
row to a s ing le definition. In a time of enormous expan
sion of new media and the perpetua l flux of encoded
infor mation o n the Internet, almost every art ins t allation
involves com puta t ion at a ce rta in stage of its develop
ment and/or presen t ation. In t h is essay I w ill attempt to
speci fy w hat, in my understanding, might be incl uded
unde r the te rm computer-based art.
Un like net -based, source-code -based, and computer
gene rated a rt, com put e r-based art generates artis t ic con -tents based . .on computer -technology w1thout a part1cular
he lectronic Media Re ew VolumeTwo 2013
emphasis on the impleme nted apparat us, netw
vironment, or the language of the source code .
words it involves the computing device as a te
support, whic h can - but does not necessa rily ne
participate in the creation of the aesthetic content
artwork . In t he case of //Eye, the aesthetic qua
the visual output a re not exclusively d e pendent
employment of a specific techno logy. Stil l, theing techno logy manages the rendition of the dig
age content and constit utes the greater part of t
of the artwork, or its logic (Lurk 2010).
As a rule, compu ter -based artworks consist of files
operating system , software, and hardwa re. When
ined more closely , the software can consist of a
code of more t hen one generation, involv ing c
annota t ions, a nd, if authored by more then one
techn ical correspondence w ithin the source cod
Hardware may involve the com puter with its proce
driven by machine code, possible mod ifications
oscillator, motherboard, and, in older devices, a
disc reader and a disc, from which the system ca
booted. Additional element s such as camera, di
monitor(s), and, last but not least, the physica l
of the equipment (compute r, camera, and monitor
integral parts of these artworks, and play a crucia
defini ng their properties.
In contrast to a large portion of traditiona l fine art,
the point of departure for the assessment of its
lies in defining the authent icity or originality of
work in ques t ion, the method for de scr ibing co
based artworks is bui lt on the complex term - i
The integrity of com pu ter-based installations depe
hardware and software components. Conceptual
rity refers to th e work's relationship to the proc
technology employed, and the social and cultural
ting in whi ch the work was c reated. Aesthetic i
comprises the look a nd feel of d isplayed compo
and the outputs of the system s uch as sound, imag
both (Laurenson 2005) . Hardware, with all its m
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tions and supplements , may have functional, but also
aes th etic value. In the case of //Eye there are both: the
scu lptural presence of technology and its at tendant aes
thet ic value, as we ll as the functional value of the appa
ratus in a ra t io. The latter seems to be var iable, at least
in obse rvation from a historical or biographical angle .
Further , the location and spat ial setting, as much as its
historical and present man ifestations, are crucial for thework's characterization. Installations in various galler ies,
within indoor and outdoor settings, shape the way the
installation is perceived - and simultaneously - influ
ences the modes of the viewers' interaction. Yet most
importantly, as we will see, due to the adaptation of the
given space and availab le equipment, these reinstal la
tions may also lead to the creation of diverse versions
and variatio n s of the ar twork, and play a crucial role in
const ructing its mul t i-aspectual iden t ity.
In t he la st decade, promoted by the Variable Media In i
t iat ive un derta ken by the So lomon R. Gugge n heim Mu
seum in New York, the term variability has been used
t o cha racte r ize installations (mostly technology-based
and performative) that are in constant flux and for which
identity was constituted by each and every instantiation
of the artwork at any given time of its lifespan (Depocas ,
Ippolito, and Jones 2003). A range of possible values de
fined the core of the work, describing a closely clustered
set of the ar twork's data. These data cou ld inc lude the
artist ic idea, in the form of a score or instruct ions, so und
or audio mater ia l, special installation requ irements/pre
scrip ti ons, and modes of interactio n . The remaini ng var i
ables were subjec t to change, having a status of loosely
prescribed specifications for periphera l elements, of t en
soft- or hardware. Significan t coordinates characterizing
variable artworks-distant from the understanding of
conventional artifacts in terms of their physical com
ponents and materials - constituted their behavior. The
artwork 's behavior was neither permanent nor fixed; it
rather described the ephemeral qualities of the work.
6
HANNABARBARAH LLING
TH ARTWORK
The object and the subject o his study
//Eye is a freestanding installation. It comprises a b lack
and white monitor (48 x 5 1 x 50 em), a man ipulated
camera mod if ied with a fis h-eye lens placed in a m etal
t ube on the top of the mon itor (1 0 x 10 x 35 em )' ablack plinth (125 x 50 x 50 em), and techn ical playbac k
equipment; the latter is no t exposed to the aud ie nce . Onthe monitor, one can see a large eye that fills the format
of the screen. The eye is active, gazing at the viewer in
a continuous manner. Moreover , it reacts to the view
er's movements. The standard role of an artwork, to be
looked at and admired, is peculiarly reversed here. The
artwork looks at and registers the presence of the viewer:
it is not the viewer who watches the artwork, it is the
ar t work that watches the v iewe r. It is a surveil lance tech
niq u e well-known from the many security mon itoring
techniq ues used in public spaces, but an a rtwork tha t, in
an unexpected, asto nishing way, is interactively i nvolved
in t he process of watching and being watc h ed. The work
is slightly provocative, as the viewer is au tomatically im
pelled to personify the installation. A phenomenon of he
early electronic art - humanizing technology - results
here in a vis -a-vis encounter of human and machi ne.
The interaction between the viewe r and //Eye is one of
the central characteristics that define it s behavior. In
this case, the audience interaction with the installatio n
comp rises a doub ling. On one hand, th e re is a viewer di
rect ly engaged with the artwork-the pe rso n standi ng in
the range of the camera, exper ienc ing a direc t enco unter
with the eye that reacts to h is movemen t s-and, on t he
other, t here is a more distant viewer, the t h ird actor,
that observes the encounter o f the first degree.
//Eye created in 1993, is one of the earliest examples
of interactive , computer -based art that found its des
t ination in an inst itutional setting of the Montevideo/
l ime Based Arts later known as NIMk {fig. 1). In the
1990s, interactivity began to celebrate itself as a sort
Te ectronic Media Review Volume wo 2 13
VRSIONSVARIATIONS ANDVARIABILITY:ETHCAL CONSIDERATONSANDCONSERVATON OPTIONSFORCOMPUTER-BASEDART
of hype, mainta ins Rene Coehlo, the founder and first
CEO of Montevideo {Coehlo 1999). Since Documenta
19in Kasse l in 1992, Gary Hill {b. 1951), Bill Viola (b.
1951), Bruce Nauman {b . 1949), and Tony Oursler {b.
1957) have become frequen tly promoted and p resented
artists. Coe h lo's galle ry in the Netherlands innova t ive ly
presen ted a nd dist ribu ted video a rt. In an interview from
1991, Coeh o s t ates: For twenty yea rs we have been
promoting an art form that nobody was asking for. In
the Nether lands it has never attra cted a large audience ,
due to the lack of a scient ific and theoretical founda
tion (Coehlo 1999). Remarkably , in talking about the
artistic achievements in context of the activity of Dutch
art scene, he states ... Bill Spinhoven 's //Eye is an icon,
too {Coehlo 1999).
Early life
F g. 1 Bll Spinhove n van Oosten,//Eye 1993, in erac tive compu erbased instal at ion, dimenso ns variableNetherlands Med a At Institu e , ace.no. 13-January-199725 The imageilu s ra e s he artwork s d splay at theMon evideo gallery n th e Spuistraatin Amsterdam n 1994. Courtesy of heNetherlands Meda Art Ins itute .
The idea for //Eye was first conce ived a t Montev ideo, du r
ing the pe riod Bill Spinhoven spent at Coehlo's galle ry
at the time of its reorganization in the 1980s. The artist
was experimenting in making drawings by recording his
eye using a black and white camera. The fir s t installation
that resulted from these experiment s , and the artist 'scooperation with Paul Klomp, was a double screen pro
jection entitled Shot Across the Mind (1989) (fig. 2a).
The eye became fully computerized and made drawings
e ectronic Medw Revew VolumeTwo 2013
F g. 2 a) BillSp n oven van Oos en , Shot across the mind1989, and (b) Birds Eye 1991 , nteractive computer-ba sedins allations pre cursors of /Eye. Courtesy of the arti s .
by itsel f . La ter, the deve lopment of this idea resu
in an interactive installation entitled Birds Eye (19
which also implements a project ion {fig. 2b). Spinho
was able to conne ct to the installation via telephon
hear visitors' comments. These early versions lead to the
creation of //Eye in two primary ways. The eye im
used in Birds Eye are identical to those incorporate
// Eye only zoomed. Moreover, the program of the
Montevideo ve rsion of //Eye involves sequences of
source code taken from Birds Eye which were able
re-activated in order to recover the dysfunctional piec
(Spinhoven 2010). This allows us to think about
artworks in a new way, one that might have an impa
how they are pe rceived and preserved: computer -b
artworks as a documentation container or a self-docu
menting device . After receiving the Prix de Rome,
highest and oldest art award of the Rijksacademy in
sterdam , Bill Sp inho ven con ceived another installat
t hat used b lack and white images of his eye, but w
any int e ractive functions. Althoug h the ins tal lation
entirely static, intr iguingly, the v iewe r believed it w
teract ive (f ig. 3).
Fg. 3 A si de re rieved fromSpnhoven archive in Henge odepic ting a prototype o //Eyeins a la ion subm tte d or the P ix deRome, Rijksakaca demy. Courtesy ofthe artis .
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Instit utional ife
Asked to create a special artwork for the re -opening of
the Montevideo gallery at the new venue, Spinhoven de
livered //Eye, an installa t ion that conspicuously reverses
the viewer experi ence : My idea was that if everybody
comes to Montev ideo to look at art, I invent art that can
look at people (Spinhoven 2010).
Since its first display in the window of the gallery at
the Spuistraat in February 1994 , and its later acquisi
t ion , the aesthetic appearance - contrary to its inne r
life and spatial setting - of // Eye has stayed virtually
the same. The only except ion was an early (unid en ti
fied ) monitor and a plinth , which were prov ided from the
NIMk's depository (fig. 1). The version of //Eye that is
currently distr ibuted by the NIMk is a black and white
version comprising a Sony monitor placed on a black
cubic plinth, a ca mera hidden in a black cylinder pl aced
on the top of the mon itor, and a p layb ack apparatus,
which is usu all y h idden inside the plinth . The mon itor
displays five images of Bill 's eye from an ear lie r instal
lation. The camera interacts with th e viewer, following
his or her movements by registration of the change ofcontrast within the 180 -degree camera angle .
The very first computer-type implemented was an Archi
medes Aco rn 410 home comput e r dating to 1987, along
with its o p erat ing system Acorn RISC OS , ve rsions 3 .0
to 6.0 , the best at this t ime , according to the artist
(20 10). They were ve ry robu st computers : the passive
components did not need to be c leaned a nd they did no t
overheat. Only the ba ck-up battery might have shown
some problems. 16 MB sound s small now, but in those
days it was a large memo ry (Spinhoven 2010) . The
comp u ter was programmed with the help of BASIC VAs
sembler. Contrary to a num b er of it s precursors , // Eye
was created as a mut e ins ta llation due to the fa c t it wasmeant for the outdo ors .
The artwork was lent out f o r vari ou s exhibitions , such as
The Second. Time B a sed Art fr om th e Ne therlands (Au-
8
HANNABARBARAH LLING
gust -N ovember 1998 ) at the Stedelij k Museum and sub
seq uent ly traveled a round th e world . It was a lso included
in Dert ig J aar Nede rl a ndse V deokunst (J anuary - March
20 0 3) that was show n in , amo ng other cities , Mexico
Ta iwa n , J apa n, Buda pes t, a n d Prague . This s t imulated'
th e creat ion of differen t versio n s of the a rtwor k and t he
imp leme nt ation of more th an one com p uter . The artist
ma intains that in t hese ea rly stages , the artwork existed
in the form of a t leas t two o r th ree versions at the same
t ime. At t he moment when the first and the second ver
sion we re on display - at times simultaneo usly-the third
one was k e pt at his studio and used for testing purposes.
Spi nh ove n used the hardware in more than one version
of th e work , exchang ing i t be twee n versions, manipulat
ing the computer by means of replacing parts such as the
monitor, gra ph ic ca rds , and b atter ies interchangeably .
Si nce its f irs t display at the Montevideo gallery, in the
course of va rious t rave lli ng exhi b itions , th e spatial set
t ing of / Eyes disp lay has c:hang ed . Th is had an impact
on the behavioral character of th e a rtwork related to the
way in whi ch the a u dience engaged with it. For instance ,
the display durin g the ex hi b itio n Kin e ti k un d /nterak
tio n . Multim ed iale Kun st a us de n Niede rl a nde n at the
Stad t isc he Mus e um in Ge lsenkirc hen , Germa ny in 1996 ,
reveals the m on itor hun g on meta l ch ains attached to
the ce iling. A nother dis pl ay set-up from at the Keizers
grach t 2 64, Amsterdam , in 2003, shows // Eye gazing
at the viewe r from a d istant, high window at the current
location (N IMk), render ing its d irect in teraction with the
viewer a lmost imposs ib le (f ig. 4a) .
Rel e vant f or t he ques t ion o f the spat ia l se tti ng of the
a rtwo rk is whe th er th e fi rst exhi b it ed version of //Eye
in the Spuistraat i n 1 993 should be regarded as site
specifi c and , if so , whether th is s ite-spe c ific ity is critica l
for the artw ork' s inte grity. The f irs t se tt ing in a w indowat Ren e Coe h lo 's g allery and th e view from the street
offe red a n ele men t o f sten ogr aphy with in whic h t he in
stallat ion wa s st ag ed : the a cc essibi lity of a public space
a nd th e acc ide ntal ity of the c hose n observer . The v is itors
The lectronic Media Review VolumeTwo 2013
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VERSION '
b
c dFg. 4. BillSpinhoven van oosten , 1/Ee, 1993 i n t e r ~ t v ecomputer-ba sed insta llation. Chan.gmg spatial sett ing of .the artwork's displayin course of 1s vanous exh1 1t10nsma) Stadt isches Museum Gelsenkirchen, 1996 (Knetik undJnteraktion. Multimediale Kunst aus den Nederlanden );(b) DASADortmund, 1997 (Short Cuts Ansch iisse an denK rpefJ; c) Inter Communication Center, Tokyo, 1998 Thesecond, Time Based Artfrom the Netherlands); and (d) NMkAmsterdam, 2003 Dertigjaa r Nedera nds e vdeokuns t ). Courtesyof the Nethera nds Med a Art Institute.
to the pub loca ted on the other s ide of the st re et , who
observed the mi se- en- s cene, were enthus ia st ic abou t th e
possibi lity of r.ont P m pla ti ng th e surpri sed pa sser s -by fol
lowed by the te lematic eye. On the v ideo tap ed sh ortly
afte r the re-o pen ing (viewab le in th e on line NIMk ca ta
logue), the atm os phere of the st ree t an d t he reaction s
of the pedes tr ian s to the a rtwork are c learly recorded.
With one sin gl e exception, the later vers ions of / Eye
were exhib ited in the context of a museum o r gall e ry
space , tak ing the formal charac ter of a white cub e or a
black box . This c hange had an effect upon the ar twork's
reception and the viewer's interact ion with it in a rat her
dec ided manne r.
The developm ent of // Eye rend e rs t he aspect o f t he re
lations hip be tween // Eye an d its institut iona l affi liatio n
unclear. Althou gh the acqu is it ion recor ds recount qu it e
the o pposite , //Eye seems to have neve r en tered the co l
lection of NIMk in a physical way. The particular posi ti on
of NIMk and i t s mandate to distribute media art render sthe physica l collect ion holdings superfluous .
The Nether lands Med ia Art Inst itute came into being as
Montevideo in 1978 a nd s ince then , an extens ive co l-
he lectronic Med a Review Volume wo 2013
lection o f video and media art ha s been asse mble
a ddit ion to its own co llect ion, th e insti t ute a lso
ages t he video collections of the De App e l Foun d
the Lijnba a n Center in Rotterdam , an d th e Ne th e
Cultural Her itage Agency (RCE ). The d is tribu t io
lec t ion comprises more than two t hou s and m ed ia
varyi ng from the ea rliest exper iments thro ug h r ece
duct io ns by known Dutch and intern at ion al a rti st
in s titu te 's on line archive accommo da tes over a th o
med ia artworks and un ique documentatio n o f event
pro ject s rea lized and pres ented by NIMk.
The pa rticu larity of the N IMk collec tion l ies in its
pi lation of d ive rse reco rding form ats and c a rrie rs,
are d ist ri bute d , but, in many c ase s , h ave no pr es
and s pecif ic m ate ria l man ifesta tion. N IMk acqu is
do n ot involve c o mp lex ins ta llat ion s com prise d o f
tura l ele ments . However , it is surp risi ng to note th
a rc h ival documents prove that the physi cal e qu ipm
//Eye was sto re d at i ts repos itory f or a time. Whe n
sary, th is eq u ipment was re-use d in other in sta ll
Furthermore, th e ar ti st remembe rs that // Eye's
wa s lent out to h is fellow a rti sts when th ey were in
In the in it ia l stage of the research, the fact that
was physically housed in the collec t ion of N Mk w
dent from discussions with personnel, who rem em
the insta ll at ion sto red on the premises, but emp h
its except iona l state. In addit ion the documents
the N Mk archive reveal two acquisit ion s of // Eye
phy s ical fo rm: the f irst one d at ing to Decemb er 6,
a nd //Eye 's seco nd exhib it ion ver s ion d at ing to Ju
1994. The first Ankoopcont rac t inc lude s the ph
components of the artwork, the sum of th e a cqu
and, furthermore , a note about the r eplacement
came ra wh ic h probab ly was pos ing tec hn ical pro
The second docume nt Ankoop //Eye st at es that in
ence to the frequent absence of the a rtwo rk dueous exhib itions , i ts func tion as a flagsh ip (Uithangb
of NIMk had been dism issed . For th is r eason the
was asked to produce ano the r ve rsion of // Eye , t
her e a second vers ion (tweede vesie or tw e ede e
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plaar . The contract involves the equipment, including
all hardware and the pl inth, except for the monitor. The
contract specifies a lso the lowest and highest val ue of
the install at ion in the case it lef t Montevideo afte r being
acquired by a thi rd party.
As tim e passe d, and the instal lation became its mu lti
pl ied fo rm , the display equipment changed location. Dur
ing my visit to the a rtist's studio in Hengelo, Netherlands
(Octobe r 2010), various elements of //Eye were stored in
situ. This proves th e ambiguity of its status: on one hand,
it is a physical object about which con tracts are signed
and records kept and which, as a loan of N IMk, physi
cally tra vels to different venues. On the other, although
included in NIMk's media collection, it is present there
solely as a registration file. Matters become further com
plicated due to the existence of different versions of
Eye at the same time.
Life outside N/Mkand ongoing development
Dating back to the 1990s, there were at least four ver
sions, including its NIMk ver sions, and a number of
variations, or, in the artist's words, editions of //Eyein existence (2010). Worth mentioning, among others,
is a German version from 1997 - the so-called DASA
version (Industrial Safety Association in Dortmund).
//Eye was acquired by DASA on the occasion of an exh ib i
t ion entit led Short Cuts: AnschiOsse an den Korper: ein
Cross-over durch Kunst , Wissenschaft und KorperBilder
(August - October 1997) . This version charac teri zed the
impl ementation of a co lor JVC monitor displaying a black
a nd wh ite image, and a later ver s ion of R ISC OS (286
Acorn RISC, OS 3.7, 1992). DASA made a decision
to conceal the entire apparatus behind a g rey -painted
chipboard casing. The only visible part of the ins tal la
tion remaining was the screen of the monitor. The wall
caption indicates that the install ation was created in
1993; the indication of the remaking of the artwo rk for
DASA, dated four years later, is lacking. According to
the curator of the exhi bition, H ans-Ger d Kaspers, for a
considerable time, //Eye has posed technical problems
4
HANNABARBARA HOLLING
and is th e reason why it has been removed from th d.IS-p lay. It became a subject of a preservation project by
ln term edia Art Institute I MAI), Dusseldor f . In reference
to the num ber of exist ing versions the registration o f
1/Eye by I MAl in 2009 suggests that there a re four edi
t ions of the 1/Eye: two with the ar t ist, on e at the NIMk
and one at the DASA. It is unc lear if al l of th em are
the same (Caian iello 2009, 1 . I nteresti ng ly, and highly
relevant for the discussion about //Eye s future manifes
tations, IMAI planned to recover the installation, taking
the earlier DASA version from 1997 as a starting point.
In 2004 Spinhoven produced a color version of the eye.
This version uses the image of an eye of a st ranger and
was presented as a multiple installation on a la rger num
ber of screens at the Library of Hengelo (The Nether
lan ds) . It is currently out o f order .
Sp inhoven st ill cont inues to deve lop further vers ions of
1/Eye and comprehends the projec t as an open-ended
process. In September 2010 the artist introduced us
to a test version of the artwork that implemented five
images of a child's eye. //Eye s actions were triggeredby the movements of a computer mouse; the prog ram
was w ritten on JavaScript, CTSS, and HTML5, and was
loaded locally.
The conventiona l concep t of a n artifact en ter ing a mu
se um co llection and being frozen i n a sta tic d isplay mode
does not co incide with //Eye s na ture, wh ich has become
inf in itely var iable. It was an insta llati on at the beg in
ning, the n it became a part of a computer, the n th e com
puter became interactive, and a part of it became a core
ve rsion The camera and the monitor are separate
parts, but I would like to make it more organ ic . An
organism, I mean lik e ce lls that have kind of simi larity
and together they create all new organisms (Spinhoven201 0). The latest instance of //Eye is embodied in the
project IART (2010), which focuses on the the possibil
ity to transform fluent ly from o ne c lass ical installation
into another. According to Spinhoven, over time, IA RT
The Electronic MediaR view Volume Two 2013
V RS ONS,VARIATIONS AND VARIABILITY: ETHICAL CONS IDERATIONS AND CONS ERVAT IONOPTONS FOR COMPUT R BASED ART
will become an extremely expressive sel f-suppo rting en
tity, capab le of managing it s own susta inability and de
ve lopment (Sp inhoven 2010). The project is based on
the biologis t James G rie r Miller's living systems theory .
The art ist liberates //Eye from being an art ob ject , a llow
ing it to live in an unr est r icted way, sett ing it free in form
of the IART pro ject. Th is m ight be seen both as an endof the development of 1Eye, but also as its beginn ing . In
order to transfe r 1 Eye, Spi nh oven app lies virtualization
of the computer system to a web-based p latform (Spin
hoven 2010) . As will be shown in the fol lowing para
graph, virtualization plays a key ro le not sole ly from the
conservat ion perspective , bu t tr iggers the artist t o th ink
far beyond its convent iona l implementation for source
code-based systems .
CONSERVATION OP TI ONS
International res earch on the preserva tion of compute r
based art and new media
The research on pre servat ion of computer-based ins t al
lations was predom inant ly conducted concu rrent ly with
the research on a la rger amount of med ia - a nd tim e
based artworks. Within th e profess ion, there have been
a number of attempts to find a way of understanding,
documenting, and preserv ing th ese artwor ks , for ex
amp le: Matters in Media Art , the Variab le Media Init ia
t ive, DOCAM Research Al liance, Internat ional Network
for the Conser vation of Contempo rary Art , and the above
ment ioned Obs olete Equ ip me nt Pro ject by PACKED
vzw in the Bene lux countr ies . A number of exh ibit ions ,
conferences, and sympos ia re sul ted from these endeav
ors, allowing discussio ns of the more general iss ue s of
preserv ing digita l heritage. Furthermo re , t his top ic has
been the focus of resea rch undertaken by var ious int er
national researchers examini ng the possibi l ities of as
sessing, docume nting, and trans ferring computer-based
art (Rineha rt 2000; Dimi trovsky 2004 ; Ga rc ia and Vilar
2007; Lurk 2008; Aktive Arch ive 2012; Variab le Media
Network 2012).
heElectronic Media Review Volume Two 20 13
The iss ues s ur rounding the procedu res, defin it ions,
im plementat ion of a spec ific p rofes s ion a l vocabular
the preservat ion o f electron ic med ia poses a nu mb
ques t ions . There is st il l a great potent ial in the
tat ion , interpretat ion , and ad justme nt of the sc ie
termino logy . Adm it te d ly, terms are cu rrent ly use
very d ifferent manners, depen d ing on t h e p rofile o
spec ia lists and the ir backgrou n d (p rog ramme rs , covato rs , etc .) . At t imes the term em ulat ion is use
terc hangeably with the t e rm virtualization, mea nin
process of extracting the operating system , the so
code , and fi les to a new en viro nme nt. Furthermore,
is no speci fic differentiation between the vocabula
pl ied to the pure ly ca rrier-, mater ial-based aspects o
artwor k and its encoded, d igital content. For exa
the process of rewrit ing a code in a diff e rent la ng
may en tai l a radical stra t egy of re interpr etat ion.
native ly, the mig rat ion of code to enable the op e ra
of a newer appl ication, ope rating system , hardwa
a ll three, impl ies less sever ity to an ar twork 's integ
t e rms of honoring its ini ti a l condit ion .
Pre servation options and outlooks far / Eye
One co uld assume that wit h the research under tak
the preservat ion possib ilities and the subseque nt
sions made concerning t he conse rvat ion of 1/Eye, it s
t rajec tory would reach its f inal stages. As I shall d
stra t e below , what happened was quite the cont rary
In 2010 , a decis ion was mad e at NIMk to rec ove
fun ct iona lity of //Eye . The log ica l c ircumstance o
dec is ion was the se lect ion of one f rom the man
s ions of the inst a llat ion from its twenty -yea rs l ife
The ef forts were concent rated on br ing ing back to
the version of //Eye dat ing to 1993, when it w
quired by NIMk , due to its h istoric s ign ificance
the fact that //Eye s init ial behavior and fu nctio
has a s tr ong re lat ionship with specific computer
ware archi tecture. Imme diate ly, the obj ec tiv e of
covery of th is versi o n encountered comp lications.
early Pa naso nic monito r once d is p layed on the w
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of Montevideo was missing. The implementation of the
Sony monitor that appeared on the occasion of the ex
hibition The Second in 2004, and from th en on most
preferred by the artist, al ready excluded th is st rategy as
revival of the initi al version. Spinhoven maintained tha t
th e installa t ion ret ain ed its look a n d fee l only by be ing
displayed on a cathode ray tube monitor due to the im
age texture . It gradually became clea r that coming backto the early version of the / Eye was illusory, at least as
far as the hardware was concerned. This was confi rmed
by the fac t that the historical Acorn Archimedes 410
dating to 1987 was no longer rec ove rable due to the
obsolescence of it s components . Furthe rm ore , nume r
ous modifications and additi ons were made and removed
over time, which made the return to the original con
figuration of the computer impossible. For this reason,
a la ter and better-maintained Acorn RISC PC dating to
1992 was employed (fig . 5) . The orig inal prog ram was
boote d from a floppy disk. To recov e r t he func tio na lity of
the old version, a la ler motherboard was assembled from
bits and p ieces found on the second hand market; the
source code had to be migrated. The oscillato r originally
used to accele rate the processor was no longer neces
sa ry with the late r, faster processor. The original came ra
was no longer availab le. The digitizer had to be replaced
and , finally, in order to ensu re proper funct ionali ty, an
emulat ion of the machine code was performed. The syn
chronizat ion of the image t imings posed challenges . At
the end the p hysical appearance of th e activated a rtw ork
and its tech nical functions resembled the version f rom
1 993. The em u lation and migration of //Eye went hand
in hand , as it were . One could say t hat the endeavor was
an attempt to recover and p resent a media artwork with
help of archaeological eq uipment.
The next step in the development of preservation strate
gies for //Eye was the isolation of the e nt ire system andits transplantation to a different environment by means
of virtualization. The artist performed the virtualization
of the recovered Acorn R SC PC to a Microsoft Windows
operating system with the help of a virtual machine. The
4
HANNABARBARAHOLLING
latt er is a n iso lated so ftware cont a iner that can run it s
own operating sys tems and app lications im itating the
funct ion o f a phys ical computer . The performance and
be havior of the first version of //Eye we re mai nt ain deThe em ulat ion of the v is ib le hardware eq uipment ren -
dered th e esthet ic appearance of the installa t ion simi lar
to its initial version .
Fg. 5 The inner life o // ye{1993) by B ll Spnhoven vanOosten: an Achimedes Acorncomputer datn g o 1992 inre furbished form in Fe brua ry2011 . Courtesy o HannaHol ng.
In February 2011 th e recovered version of //Eye was
presented side by s ide with its virtua lized clo ne fig. 6 .
The outcomes of th e rei ns tallation of both examp les of
//Eye we re assessed by th e profess ional audience inv ited
to NIMk for the sympos ium To Transform or To Transfer.
Lastly, a fully virtu alized ve rsion of //Eye, operating
sole ly on the web brow ser, wa s conceived . Th is stra tegy
omits th e im med iate phys ica l depe nde n cy on computer
Fig. 6 BillSpnhoven van Ooste n //Eye, 1993/2011 , nteractivecomputer-based installaton.The refurbished ve rs ion of theinstallation from 1993 on the right ,and its v rtualzed form during theren stala tion a NIMkon February 24.20 11 {on the eft . Courtesy of HannaHo ling
The lectronicMedia Review Voume Two 2013
S ARIATIONS ANDVARIABILITY: ETHICALCONSIDERATIONS AND CONSERVATION OPTIONS FOR OMPUTER BASED ART
V RSION, '
d reIt is sole ly the artwor k performance th at is
har wa .. ma intained in a form close to the initia l vers ion .
beingMost critical, however, is the aspect characteristic for
Oh er compute r- and net-based a rtworks, namelyma nythe achievem e nt of a certa in form of independence
from a p hysical carrier, and , th eoretically , from a num
ber of system res trictio n s and ma rket dependencies in
a broader sense. The imp lications of th is type of v irtualization provoke a ra d ica l onto log ica l sh ift , which re-
lates both to th e phys ica l object (wh ich ceases to exist)
and to time (inte rmittent access rather than continuous
prese nce), and para llel the sh ift tha t m ight be observed
in music and film (tran sfer from physical car riers to
distr ibuted records ) .
ETHICAL CO NS IDERATIO NS
For decades the axioma tic concept of the origina l state
of the object has gover ned the disc ipl ine of conservation.
The profession has often str ived to rec ove r th e orig inal.
But, given the pa ce o f tec hno logical developme nt e:mu
obso lescence, it is unl ike ly tha t present and future audi
ences will have the sa me authe ntic experience of media
artwork that aud ien ces had at the time of a work's first
presentation. The a rtwor k mainta ins different rela tion s
with changing te mporal conditions. Technology reg a rde d
as state -of-the -art in the 1990s, over a time spa n of
twenty years and after the emergence of Big Brother
and new monitor ing technologies, became an almost ar
cha eo logica l ins tance of su rveillance in media. Moreover ,
artworks are entang led in social and cult ural netwo rks ;
the ir identi ty is c reated in interact ion with the t ime and
circum stances in wh ich they ex is t. Thus , even the hig h
est atta inab le recove ry of a med ia artifact cannot res ur
rect the Zeitgeist of the era of its creat ion . What it can do
is evoke nostalgic ideas about an irretr ievab le past. How
ever , if one assumes that in some way the conception of
a work extends beyond it s physica l man ifestation , one
risks becom ing bl ind t o the importance of these mani
festat ions and to the tang ible evidence of the ob ject's
histo ry. / Eye is obv ious ly not an epheme ron tha t in its
evanescen ce ad d resses itse lf only to the present .
he learonic MediaReview Volume Two 2013
As in th e theory of musical performance, and pa ra l
to the tendency to re-do performance art , the extens i
of the artist's idea to the I ART p rojec which ex is
on a web-based p latform- a lt ers its mean ing , but a l
preserves the concept for at least th e ne a r future . Co
pute r-b ased a rt teac hes us that f idel ity to the origin
or the origina l mater ia l, wh ich has a long tr ad it ion
conse rvat ion of the convent ional fine arts , h as to b ethou ght. There remains, however , the ch alle n ging que
tio n of what is the co re and what is the p e ripher y. T
quest ion of how, and accord ing to wh ich arguments, a
dis ti nctio n b etwee n them can b e made rests on the
c ia lly and cu ltura lly depen dent level of interp re tat
and re- interpretat ion.
The greatest d ilemma that must be fac ed wh ile des ig n
a p rese rvat ion strategy for //Eye pertains to the def ini t
of its nature. The question must be asked : it is a n
ject or a concept? It is surely one of the most freque n
posed quest ions in the conservntion fie ld of recent
d ia art. The answe r i s far from being stra ightforwa rd.
us rec ons ider the part icu lar case of //Eye in this light
As suggested above , the status of the artwo rk within
N1Mk collection might be regarded as pure ly concept
Without its physical manifestation doz ing in the repo
tories, the ar twork ex ists only in form of docume
tion and registration files. The impac t on conse rvat
might be obvious : s ince there is no phys ica l form o
Eye , why shou ld any e lem ent o f the work be phy s ic
con se rved, or passed to posterity? On the other hand,
opposed to many new art productions , //Eye's long
tory allows us to ana lyze its phys ica l man ifestat ion in
specifi c temporal and spat ia l context. Th e var ious
bod iments o f the instal lat ion over the course of a lm
tw enty years of existence provide a sol id testimony o
development, w hich responds to the g iven technologcapacities. These h isto rical instant iations construct th
trajectory of the a rtwork in its struggle wit h ti me, prov
its tang ib le de pendency on these physical forms. All
them respond to the temporary state of know ledge
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technology, and involve programmers, conservators, cu
rators, technicians, and other actors. Conservation of the
installation should thus respect its unique trajectory by
documenting its life, which is constructed through socia l
entanglement with peop le and things.
ROLE OF THE RTIST
A novelty in preservation of these types of artworks isthe particular role played by the artist. Following con
servation doctrines, respect of an artist's intentions was
always assigned the highest value and priority. Now, how
ever, it is the artist that takes an active role in designing
and re -designing the preservation strategy of his or her
piece, programming , re -p rogramming, and manipulating
the work. Like craftsmen in centuries past, the contem
porary media artist is also a specialist in information
technology, and acts as restorer of his or her own artistic
production . For a conse rvator, bearing witness to the art
ist's (re-) engagement may, over time, be not enough. An
extended collaboration is called tor, one that requires
subtle and skillful maneuv eri ng and negotiation in the
zones between technological know-how, creativity, and
fidelity to conservation dicta.
In the case of Bill Spinhoven, the particularity of his
engagement with computer-based arts is evident in the
support that he used to offer other artists. The gath
ered expe rience and knowledge inseminated his own
creations . Spinhoven states: At the beginning I earned
money w ith p roducing artworks for other a rt ist s. I used
the modules then for something e lse (2010). In ad
dition, his cooperation with other artists, such as Paul
Klomp, had an impact on the realization of his artworks.
It cou ld thus be assumed that the ea rly Dutch media
art that arose around the Montevideo cross-fertilized on
the te chnological and aestheticallevel. This could play a
role in th inking about preserving this significant portion
of our digital heritage.
HANNABARBARAH LLING
CONClUSION
We can sta te that //Eye has existed in many forms and
variations. The artist's persona l prefere nce and the de-
velopment o f the insta llation dur ing the last two decades
render conservat ion decision-making a highly complex
and mu lt ilaye red iss ue . //Eye s variab ility is a part of its
ve ry nature, and its original or authentic state is notre
coverable. Rather than existing as something fixed andstable, it is merely a conglomerate of the artwork's em-
bodiments and instantiations. Facing the impossibility
of the recovery of old, obsolete equipment, conserva-
tion produces further ve rsi ons of the work. The question
remains open as to when its conservation begins and
ends. In the course of the conservatio n process, artworks
are being remed iated, enriched with new values and de-
prived of others; new versions emerge. The conservator's
responsibility is not only to honor and safeguard the ma-
terial authent ic ity of the artwork's var ious instantiat ions
thro ugh documentation, but also to ensure its intrinsic
fluidity, a llow ing for ongoing development and change.
KNOWLEDG ENTS
This article is informed by conversations with Bill Spin-
hoven van Oosten, th e team of the Netherlands Media
Art Ins tit ute in Amsterdam; the curator of the DASA
in Dortmund; Han s-Gerd Kaspers; Re nate Buschmann
from lntermedia A rt Institu te in Dusse ldorf; Tiziana
Caianiell o f rom the Zero Foundation in Dusse ldorf; and
co-researchers fr om the Obso lete Equipment Projec t.
For fru it ful discuss ions and hel p, my spec ial grati tu de to
Professo r Deborah Cherry, Glenn Wharton, Gaby Wije rs,
and my colleagues and researchers from the project New
Strategies for th e Conserva t ion of Contemporary Art.
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Hanna Barbara Holl ingPh.D resea rcherConservator for contemporary art and new med iaUniversi t y o f AmsterdamInstitu t e of Art History and Cu ltura l Stud iesAmst erd am Sc hoo l for Cu ltural Analys isHe rengracht 2861 16 BX Ams terd amThe Net he r landsh.b.hoe [email protected] :// home. mede werke r. uva .n 1h .b. ho i ngwww.newst rategiesi nconse rvation. n
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heEearonc Media Review Volume Two 2013