The conservation and restoration of new media art is the study and practice of techniques for sustaining new media art created using from materials such as digital, biological, performative, and other variable media.
New media art runs a unique risk when it comes to longevity that has resulted in the development of new and different preservation and restoration strategies and tools.
To preserve and restore these pieces of new media art, there are a variety of strategies including storage, migration, emulation, and reinterpretation. There are even more tools used to implement these strategies including Archivematica, BitCurator, Conifer, Media Info, PRONOM, QC Tools, and the Variable Media Questionnaire. The common metadata schema used for new media art is Media Art Notation System (MANS). Despite the name "new media art", there is a diverse history of preservation and restoration efforts including both individual efforts and consortium efforts.
Preservation strategies
Storage
The acquisition and storage of the physical media-equipment, such as DVD players or computers, used in multi-media or digital artworks has proven a short-term tactic at best, as hardware can quickly become obsolete or can 'stale' in storage. Storage is also notoriously bad at capturing the contextual and live aspects of works such as Internet art, performance art and live electronic music.
Storage involves keeping documents in their original formats whenever possible to maintain authenticity; keeping metadata updated to aid in finding and understanding the preservation strategies taken so far; keeping documents on reliable, non-proprietary software that users would be the most likely to already have or easily get access to; storing multiple copies of bitstreams; replacing the carriers when new, more widely used ones become available.
Migration
To migrate a work of art is to upgrade its format from an aged medium to a more current one, such as from VHS to DVD, accepting that some changes in quality may occur while still maintaining the integrity of the original. This strategy assumes that preserving the content or information of an artwork, despite its change in media, trumps concerns over fidelity to the original look and feel.
Migration must take place regularly or the original piece may become obsolete with no way to update it to a newer format for accessibility. Migration is especially important when the file is saved on proprietary software like Microsoft Word, Prezi, Archives Space, etc. In the process of migration, a document can be stored in its original form and also migrated to a non-proprietary form in order to maintain authenticity while also providing long-term access.
Emulation
The process of simulating an older operating system (or by extension, other supporting infrastructure) on a newer software or hardware platform is called emulation. The idea behind emulation is to maintain the original format and feel of the piece of new media art. Emulation software allows users and researchers to view complex pieces of art like video games, virtual reality, etc. in a way that it was intended to be viewed. Emulation is especially important for art created on proprietary software or software that many users and researchers might not have access to. The emulation software allows them to view the document even without the original software.
Seeing Double: an emulation testbed
In 2004, the Guggenheim Museum, in conjunction with the Daniel Langlois Foundation, held an exhibition entitled Seeing Double: Emulation in Theory and Practice as a trial of emulation. In the exhibition, artworks operating on their original physical media were displayed alongside versions emulated on newer physical media. The exhibition was organized with the participation of computer researcher and emulation specialist, Jeff Rothenberg. In 1998, Rothenberg had published "Avoiding Technological Quicksand: Finding a Viable Technical Foundation for Digital Preservation".
Reinterpretation
Reinterpretation is the final storage form and is only considered when all other storage forms are not available. Reinterpretation involves changing the essence of the art with or without the artist's approval for preservation purposes. This could involve re-coding for access, recasting a piece in a more modern, durable medium, and more. This technique does not maintain authenticity the way the other strategies do, but it can be the most effective. Therefore, it is considered best practice to only use reinterpretation when all other strategies are deemed inappropriate.