Planning for Time-Based Media Artwork Preservation at the Philadelphia Museum of Art

Abstract

The National Digital Stewardship Residency in Art Information (NDSR Art) project at the Philadelphia Museum of Art titled “Planning for Time-Based Media Artwork Preservation” was a year-long initiative to research the collecting, care, and conservation needs of the museum’s time-based media art (TBMA) collection. In this article, the authors describe the work of the NDSR Art resident and her host mentor that entailed establishing digital storage space, creating and implementing a disk-imaging workflow for the artworks’ born-digital components, and developing more robust collections records. Ultimately, the project produced a foundation of knowledge and documentation to inform museum staff about the best practices and standards necessary to build an infrastructure that fully supports the unique preservation needs of TBMA.