Taught by:
E.S.P. TV, Athena Christa Holbrook, Kit Fitzgerald, Liz Flyntz
Pioneer Works, 159 Pioneer St., Brooklyn NY
The Present is the Form of All Life: The Time Capsules of Ant Farm and LST is an exhibition tracing the evolution of the time capsule from a “a container storing a selection of objects chosen as being typical of the present time, buried for discovery in the future” to a digital archive, where media formats from the past are only as discoverable as current tech compatibility allows. In this workshop, we work with media preservation archivists to discuss how art and media archives can be preserved and obsolescence avoided. A hands-on transfer station will be set up and supervised where all willing participants can sign up to learn how to digitally transfer material on a range of analog media formats.
This workshop will be facilitated by E.S.P. TV, a project directed and operated by Victoria Keddie and Scott Kiernan, that hybridizes technologies old and new, contemporary and obsolete, through the creation and broadcast of experimental television from their customized mobile-tv-studio van. For this workshop, they will be joined by Athena Christa Holbrook, Collection Specialist in Media & Performance Art at The Museum of Modern Art, artist Kit Fitzgerald, and curator Liz Flyntz to facilitate a day of media rescue!
Participants can bring tape-based video formats such as:
(S)/ VHS
Betacam SP
DVCAM
Mini DV
And analog audio formats such as:
¼” reel to reel
Cassette tapes
LPs
Participants will be asked to outline the type, format, and duration of the media that they hope to transfer, and sign a waiver in the case that material is compromised. Participants will also be required to bring their own USB hard drive to store their updated files. They will leave with a hand printed manual for reference to transfer their own material.