The variable media paradigm pairs creators with museum and media consultants to imagine potential futures for works in ephemeral formats, including digital media, performances, and installations. The initiative aims to define each of these case studies in terms of medium-independent behaviors and to identify the best strategies for preserving work with the help of an interactive questionnaire.
This strategy emerged from the Guggenheim Museum ’s efforts to preserve its world-renowned collection of conceptual, minimalist and video art. The growth of the Variable Media has been supported by the Daniel Langlois Foundation for Art, Science, and Technology , and subsequently promoted by the Forging the Future alliance. The aim of this diverse network of organizations is to develop the tools, methods and standards needed to rescue creative culture from obsolescence and oblivion. Choose among the lin
The Variable Media Questionnaire is an interactive form linked to a database and designed to assist creators and preservationists in writing variable media guidelines. The questionnaire is not intended to be exhaustive, but is intended to spur questions that must be answered in order to capture creators' desires about how to translate their work into new mediums once the work's original medium has expired.