<HTML><BODY style="word-wrap: break-word; -khtml-nbsp-mode: space; -khtml-line-break: after-white-space; ">Hi everyone,<DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>As a constant lurker who does not have the time for a comprehensive contribution I feel pulled out from under my deadlines for a brief thought (Eric's comment sounded familiar).</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>My interest in this thread is not so much shelf-life of my own art but of the implications of our culture of redundancy and our expectations from history.</DIV><DIV>It is not only media art that is threatened by redundancy - it is a phenomenon typical most aspects of present life, a non-linear life. I am not sure that future generations of media artists will be as concerned about longevity of their work. I do see much of media art to be experiential in their interactivity, much closer to performing arts (as Danny mentioned).</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>I started out a painter transitioned into video art and then computer animation + media art in the 80-ies + beyond. Yet I have not been able to shed my desire for the physical object, which points back not only at my fine art roots but at my generation as well.</DIV><DIV>While I consider my attachment to my early works close to being a weakness, I am concerned with two developments:</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>1- What will be the consequence of a lack of historical consciousness and continuity the "short shelf live" of our cultural productions may produce? Art is also communication. If the works cannot 'speak' to a next generation, except for a few rarified preserved museum pieces, the communication ceases to exist and transport ideas forward. </DIV><DIV>question1: How can we retain a historical 'footing' in this fast-paced medium?</DIV><DIV>question2: Is 'historical footing' a dated concept that we have to give up like 'ownership' with open source? </DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>2- The democratization of tools for the making of media art combined with an affluent society has afforded us to work on more than our survival. It has created a positive deluge of creativity with an ambiguous deluge of visuals.</DIV><DIV>question1: How will we make choices what works to preserve and how will these choices distort the future view of the present?</DIV><DIV>question2: Are we being self-important by expecting a degree of preservation that did not take place in earlier centuries either? What would be the percentage of works preserved as 'rarified' museum pieces or rare architectural gems in relation to the works produced at the time?</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>Best,</DIV><DIV>Mechthild</DIV><DIV><BR><DIV> <SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: auto; -khtml-text-decorations-in-effect: none; text-indent: 0px; -apple-text-size-adjust: auto; text-transform: none; orphans: 2; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; "><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: auto; -khtml-text-decorations-in-effect: none; 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widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; "><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><FONT class="Apple-style-span" color="#7E7E7E" size="1"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 9px;; color: rgb(126, 126, 126); "><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(126, 126, 126); font-size: 9px; "><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(126, 126, 126); font-size: 9px; ">Mechthild Schmidt</SPAN></SPAN></SPAN></FONT></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><FONT class="Apple-style-span" color="#7E7E7E" size="1"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 9px;; color: rgb(126, 126, 126); "><BR style="; color: rgb(126, 126, 126); font-size: 9px; "></SPAN></FONT></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><FONT class="Apple-style-span" color="#7E7E7E" size="1"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 9px;; color: rgb(126, 126, 126); "><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(126, 126, 126); font-size: 9px; "><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(126, 126, 126); font-size: 9px; ">Digital Communications and Media</SPAN></SPAN></SPAN></FONT></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><FONT class="Apple-style-span" color="#7E7E7E" size="1"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 9px;; color: rgb(126, 126, 126); "><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(126, 126, 126); font-size: 9px; "><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(126, 126, 126); font-size: 9px; ">McGhee Division, </SPAN><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(126, 126, 126); font-size: 9px; ">New York University</SPAN></SPAN></SPAN></FONT></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><FONT class="Apple-style-span" color="#7E7E7E" size="1"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 9px;; color: rgb(126, 126, 126); "><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(126, 126, 126); font-size: 9px; "><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(126, 126, 126); font-size: 9px; ">726 Broadway, #669</SPAN></SPAN></SPAN></FONT></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><FONT class="Apple-style-span" color="#7E7E7E" size="1"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 9px;; color: rgb(126, 126, 126); "><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(126, 126, 126); font-size: 9px; "><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(126, 126, 126); font-size: 9px; ">New York, NY 10003</SPAN></SPAN></SPAN></FONT></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><FONT class="Apple-style-span" color="#7E7E7E" size="1"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 9px;; color: rgb(126, 126, 126); "><BR style="; color: rgb(126, 126, 126); font-size: 9px; "></SPAN></FONT></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><FONT class="Apple-style-span" color="#7E7E7E" size="1"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 9px;; color: rgb(126, 126, 126); "><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(126, 126, 126); font-size: 9px; "><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(126, 126, 126); font-size: 9px; "><A href="mailto:ms1831@nyu.edu">ms1831@nyu.edu</A></SPAN></SPAN></SPAN></FONT></DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><BR class="Apple-interchange-newline"></SPAN></SPAN></SPAN></SPAN> </DIV><BR></DIV></BODY></HTML>