Reproducibility in Art and Science
Marking the beginning of a new partnership between Rhizome and the Google Cultural Institute, the Rhizome blog recently published a conversation between Dragan Espenschied, Rhizome’s preservation director, and Vint Cerf, Google’s Chief Internet Evangelist. In addition to bringing together two people with among the coolest job titles ever, it got me thinking about some similarities between art and science when it comes to the issue of reproduction.
The main thrust of the conversation is about the difficulty of preserving internet art. In particular, works such as The Web Stalker were often made in a particular context, intended to be performances of a sort, and which depended on the existence of a certain technical infrastructure, including a particular operating system, a particular input device, an internet connection, and accompanying protocols. Part of the conversation relates to the fact that it’s actually very difficult to maintain or recreate every single thing that is required in order for a modern viewer to have the exact same experience as when it was first created. Nevertheless, Dragan argues, there is still value in preserving part of the experience.
