“Death of artworks”: Contemplating new modes of cultural transmission

In the 15 years since its opening, the Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media (YCAM) has worked with numerous artists from Japan and abroad to produce and present artworks that utilize media technology.

Works of media art often use computers and video or audio equipment. Consequently they are difficult to maintain over time due to mechanical breakdowns and changes in the technological environment. Art museums and research institutions worldwide are currently engaged in efforts to develop methods of preserving or restoring such works. In this exhibition we join forces with artists to consider the “death” of artworks and the possibilities for “reincarnating” them in the future by means other than conventional approaches to preservation.

With the art unit exonemo serving as co-curator, the exhibition features a massive “Mausoleum of Media Art” that houses no longer functioning media works by various artists. The voices of these artists encourage us to think about the meaning of an artwork’s lifespan and future, and to explore new ways of creatively transmitting artistic expressions and other forms of “culture.”

When we exhibited works of media art in a New York gallery, the director of the gallery asked us, “What if one of your works breaks down after it’ s sold?” We immediately replied that we would repair it, to which the director laughed, “No, I mean after you’ re no longer around!”

There is an adage that “art is long, life is short.” We realized that we had not given serious thought to the notion of art as having a longer lifespan than human beings. “Media art,” which is perceived as illuminating the future, actually has a short lifespan. When equipment is part of an artwork, a breakdown may cause the entire piece to stop functioning. Some media art fails simply because the computer operating system was updated. The challenge of maintaining such works has become a hot topic for museums all over the world.

But the very ephemerality of media art offers us an opportunity to contemplate the “soul” of art from a new perspective. Discussions with the staff of YCAM, which celebrates its 15th anniversary this year, yielded the theme of this exhibition. What might constitute the “reincarnation” of media art? We submitted this question to artists associated with YCAM over the years, and from their responses we were able to glean their individual views on the life and death of art. It is a question that may connect to more universal concerns extending beyond art: What kinds of values should we embrace in our own lives? Where do those values arise from? Not only media art, but we ourselves, as members of contemporary society, constantly seek new things that propel us forward. We hope this exhibition affords an opportunity to stop for a moment and think about such things a little more deeply.

exonemo