Algorithmic Signs, Venice 2017: challenges in the curation and documentation of early computational and media art

Abstract

The canon of 20th century art has been expanded over the past few decades to include neglected artists and genres. Media art, however, has largely remained outside of this “circle”. This presentation will explore how art institutions, conservators, curators and scholars have helped, through curatorial practice, to integrate media art into the wider field of contemporary art. The presentation will focus on Algorithmic Signs, an exhibition curated by the author and held in a historical gallery in St. Mark’s Square, Venice.

Questions the paper will address include: How do art exhibitions help to trace the origins and trajectories of media art? Can curatorial practice help to integrate media art into the art history curriculum, and if so, how? How do art institutions, museums and galleries engage with the multi-cross-trans-disciplinary aspects of media art, compared to art fairs, festivals and biennials? Are "conventional" or “old media” curatorial approaches still relevant or necessary when curating media art? What are the issues involved in re-contextualizing and exhibiting pioneering artworks made in the 1960s and 1970s? Can curatorial practices increase public awareness of media art? What are suitable curatorial approaches regarding new media art? And can curatorial practices help to understand the relations between media art and other types of art?