• Session Type : Report on Workshop
• Time : Mon 26 May 16:00-16:05
• Author : Aissa María Santiso Camiade
• Abstract
Aissa María Santiso Camiade will present a report on the Minting, Displaying and Connecting Archives Through the Blockchain Workshop where she shared tools implemented by creators of NFT ecosystems. The workshop addressed how to store online assets on the blockchain. This technology can be used as a way to bring archives that live within local servers to a wider audience through the use of public blockchains. It can be a useful tool for connecting digital libraries and archives.

• Session Type : Archive Presentation
• Time : Mon 26 May 16:05-16:10
• Author : Wim van der Plas, Bonnie Mitchell, Terry Chun Wong and Jan Searleman
• Abstract
ISEA maintains two online archives showcasing 36 years of symposium presentations, workshops and art events. This archive currently has over 21,000 entries and contains abstracts, full papers, images and videos. The history of the archive’s development will be discussed as well as its current state. The presentation will conclude with a discussion of its involvement in the worldwide connecting new media art archives initiative.

• Session Type : Short Paper
• Time : Mon 26 May 16:10-16:15
• Author : Bonnie Mitchell and Janice Searleman
• Abstract
The ACM SIGGRAPH organization maintains an online archive which includes information about presentations, exhibitions, demonstrations, animation screenings and other events at the annual conferences. The online archive was developed by a collaborative team of volunteer image processors, data managers, and programmers. Team members researched, digitized and entered over 50 thousand entries and programmed innovative features that enable easy access to this valuable resource. Along with an online archive, a physical archive was established at Bowling Green State University and contains thousands of artifacts and publications from the SIGGRAPH organization. The SIGGRAPH History archive team is also preparing the archive to be part of the world-wide distributed network of new media art archives.

• Session Type : Archive Presentation
• Time : Mon 26 May 16:15-16:20
• Author : Anita Halbartschlager
• Abstract
Ars Electronica, founded in Linz, Austria, is a global leader in the intersection of art, technology, and society. Originating with the Ars Electronica Festival in 1997, the event has grown into the world’s largest of its kind, uniting artists, scientists, and innovators. The Prix Ars Electronica, established in 1987, honors pioneering media art, with winning projects preserved in the archive, which documents the evolution of digital art. The Ars Electronica Center, opened in 1996, offers interactive exhibitions on digital culture and technology.
The physical archive, one of the largest dedicated to digital media art, holds over 75,000 records, including audiovisual materials, publications, and detailed project documentation. In 2008, the Ars Electronica Archive digitized an extensive amount of material for long-term preservation and accessibility. The archive is now organized into three parts: an internal database, an online archive, and a physical archive. The internal database contains over 200,000 entries, supporting research and documentation. The online archive provides public access to selected materials, while the physical archive holds rare items like early festival footage. With a new internal database and interface, the archive continues to grow, making digital art history accessible to researchers, artists, and the public, while ensuring its preservation for future generations.

• Session Type : Archive Presentation
• Time : Mon 26 May 16:20-16:25
• Author : Oliver Grau
• Abstract
Kickstarting the field of Media Arts research, the ARCHIVE OF DIGITAL ART (ADA) has documented the rapidly evolving field of digital art since 1999. This research-oriented overview of works at the intersection of art, science, and technology has developed in cooperation with international media artists, researchers and institutions as a collective project. Since today’s digital artworks are processual, ephemeral, interactive, multimedia-based, and fundamentally context dependent because of their different structure, they require a modified, or expanded concept of documentation. ADA ascribes high importance to artistic inventions like innovative interfaces, displays or software.
How does ADA continuously adapt to address changing needs of researchers and artists? After the last research phase the focus was on further development of the social media functions of the living community, uploading and tool development for data analysis and visualization in AR, the next phase is a.) on the pros and cons of AI in a living archive, b.) the development of a transcontinental network of leading archives, c.) a federal initiative to integrate digital art into the museum world and d.) transfer of ADA to institutions in (smaller) countries with difficulties to afford many years of archive development but have a lively media art scene…

• Session Type : Archive Presentation
• Time : Mon 26 May 16:25-16:30
• Author : Felix Mittelberger
• Abstract
On the basis of the extensive archive of Harald Bode, one of the most influential engineers for analog electronic audio instruments, ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe, SYNTH-Werk and HfM | University of Music Karlsruhe reconstructing lost instruments of this nearly forgotten figure of electronic music history. The first rebuilt invention of Harald Bode is the Barberpole Phaser, Bode’s last instrument, which he created as an analog instrument on the edge of the digital revolution. Only three instruments were sold and Bode died soon after the release. Now – with the help of his archive – his work comes back to life.
The project showcases the fact that the ZKM archive is not only used by art historians to produce text and exhibitions, but also by artists and, in particular, by conservators and engineers. The archive plays an essential role in the preservation and reconstruction of new media artworks.

• Session Type : Archive Presentation
• Time : Mon 26 May 16:30-16:35
• Author : María Alejandra Crescentino
• Abstract
Legado.ar is a living, feminist and non-hierarchical archive that highlights and vindicates Argentina’s artistic and technological practices, engaging in a constant dialogue with the local contexts from which they emerge. The project has its roots in the audiovisual archive of pioneering Argentine video artist Graciela Taquini, whose work as a researcher and curator has frequently explored themes linked to feminism, identity, memory and archiving. This digital platform hosts an ever-expanding database of works and artistic profiles, which forms the basis for various theoretical, curatorial, artistic, educational and outreach initiatives. More than just an online archive, it serves as a dynamic tool that activates and revalorizes artistic memory from a dissident perspective – challenging hegemonic narratives – and through experimental and research-driven artistic methodologies.

• Session Type : Archive Presentation
• Time : Mon 26 May 16:35-16:40
• Author : ephemeral:data\
• Abstract
The Chinese Cyberfeminism Archive (CCA)1 is a selfreflective web archive dedicated to preserving defunct and lost Chinese feminist websites, forums, and blogs from the late 1990s to early 2010s. Using a slow archive approach, our archive rediscovers feminist networks that existed before social media giants dominated the Chinese internet. CCA has showcased 38 of the discovered 120+ sites, creating buffer space for feminist and queer memories in the face of censorship-induced data loss.

• Session Type : Archive Presentation
• Time : Mon 26 May 16:40-16:45
• Author : Will Swinburne and Kristina Tarasova
• Abstract
In April 2024, the BFI announced the ‘Our Screen Heritage’ project, a vital stepping stone to pave the way for the BFI’s Screen Archive of the Future. The project will bring the BFI National Archive, the UK’s national collection of moving im- age, up to date by acquiring and preserving the story of moving image in the digital/online era and reflecting the diversity and richness of contemporary Britain today. As archivists and curators, we have been confronting the challenges of adapting conventional archival practice to the age of superabundance of online digital works which, in form and context, diverge strikingly from the media landscape of early Film and Tele- vision production when many archival standards were established. In pursuing this project, we have found vanishingly few examples of national film archives attempting to collect online media work at this scale, so we are breaking new ground and looking to the world of Electronic/Emerging Art for guidance and collaboration. Intended as part of the special track for Digital Heritage: The 5th Summit on New Media Art Archiving, we bring an Institutional Presentation to share our experience of this journey so far.

• Session Type : Full Paper
• Time : Mon 26 May 16:45-17:05
• Author : Shigeru Kobayashi
• Abstract
This paper reports the challenges of maintaining experiential quality across different technological eras in media art, focusing on Light on the Net (1996/2024) as a case study. The original 1996 installation allowed participants on the internet to collectively control a physical lighting installation with 49 bulbs. In re-exhibiting the work in 2024, the key challenge was not merely preserving technical functionality but maintaining its essential experiential quality while adapting to contemporary participants’ evolved perception, shaped by dramatically faster internet speeds and different technological expectations. The study employs Bergson’s theory of time, particularly his concept of dure ́e (duration) and its multi-time scale interpretation. Through this framework, it analyzes how the work’s core experiential quality emerges not from technical latency but from the imperfective aspect created by subjective intervals and potential interventions from other participants. The 2024 recreation, developed through close collaboration between the artist and technical collaborators, successfully maintains this essential experiential quality while adapting to the contemporary media milieu. The study contributes to media art conservation discourse by demonstrating that successful recreation requires understanding works as embedded in their media mi- lieu, and by documenting the recreation process of a classical work where both the original artist and technical collaborators were actively involved.

• Session Type : Short paper
• Time : Tue 27 May 14:20-14:35
• Author : Daechan Heo
• Abstract
This paper presents a framework for developing cross-cultural new media art archives. We identify three key challenges in cross-cultural archiving: preserving cultural context and overcoming linguistic barriers, and technical standardization. To address these challenges, we propose a comprehensive framework built on culturally-sensitive metadata schemas, interoperable documentation protocols, and cross-cultural integration system. The implementation strategy encompasses multilingual taxonomy development, dual-layer infrastructure design, and a three-tier community engagement model. Through this framework, we aim to enable grassroots archives to integrate with global networks while maintaining their distinct cultural perspectives, ultimately contributing to the preservation and accessibility of diverse media art histories. Our approach focuses on practical solutions for bridging cultural and linguistic boundaries in digital archives while ensuring sustainable, community-driven growth.

• Session Type : Panel
• Time : Tue 27 May 14:35-15:20
• Author : Lena Holub, Martin Honzik, Lev Manovich, Olga Shishko, Escher Tsai and Soh Yeong Roh
• Abstract
This panel traces the genealogies of media art platforms—online archives, media art databases, and contemporary streaming services. By examining technological, aesthetic, and conceptual continuities, the discussion will center around a key question: What kind of archive does the future need? What could an expanded vision of the media art archive look like, and how can engaging with the past unveil pathways to reimagine the future?
What kinds of subjects might the practice of using such archives shape, and how can access to a media art archive influence the aesthetic and political imagination of those who engage with it? How can insights from early media platforms and contemporary artistic practices be meaningfully integrated into today’s structures without merely replicating the past? This question invites an exploration of hybrid approaches that merge the resilience and insights of early platforms with the innovative possibilities of modern ones.

• Session Type : Panel
• Time : Tue 27 May 15:20-15:40
• Author : Bonnie Mitchell, Terry Chun Wong, Dominik Bönisch, Andreas Kohlbecker, Víctor Fancelli Capdevila, Lozana Rossenova
• Abstract
The Workshop on New Media Art Archiving (WNMAA) was held at ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe in Germany from 5th to 8th February, 2025. The Workshop brought together over 60 participants from Europe, Asia, Australia, Latin and North America. With the objective of “Connecting Archives & Connecting People,” the WNMAA organisers aimed to build a collaboration platform that united experts, practitioners, and stakeholders in the field of new media art archiving. This platform will enable the archivists to share knowledge and work together to preserve the history of media art. At the Workshop, participants formed groups and discussed issues such as technical infrastructure, AI and archiving, ontologies, interfaces, communication platforms, and ways of connecting people. This transformative event was an extension of the Summit on New Media Art series and significantly advanced the goals of the Connecting Archives Working Group in their efforts to create a platform that links new media art archives around the world.

• Session Type : Workshop
• Time : Tue 27 May 16:00~18:00
• Author : Badie Khaleghian, Aruna Kharod, Kate Cambell Strauss (Bowdoin College)
• Abstract
This workshop explores how musical improvisation fosters inclusivity, cross-cultural understanding, and creative collaboration. Combining jazz, interactive electronic music, and South Asian traditions, participants will engage in hands-on music creation that transcends cultural and technological boundaries. The session includes performances, improvisation exercises, and a collaborative showcase, welcoming participants of all skill levels. Through this experience, attendees will discover how improvisation enhances self-expression, facilitates cultural exchange, and contributes to inclusive musical communities. Ultimately, this workshop aims to awaken each participant’s latent creative potential.