do not delete: conserving the digital design process
See original advertisementwith Martha Thorne
Associate Curator and Acting Department head of the Department of Architecture, Art Institute of Chicago
and Peter Urban
Kristine Fallon Associates
"I think historically we're a strong collection, but I think the big challenge we're facing now is not to be so much chroniclers of history, but to be more proactive, and really try to anticipate what are important firms, important buildings, and important ideas, and solicit those firms, and those architects, those ideas, and bring them together before they're lost to the future."
Martha Thorne and Peter Urban presented the results of a multi-year study, inititated by the Art Institute and funded by the Graham Foundation and the Harold Schiff foundation, of the looming problems of digital design data -- designs that had never seen physical form by being printed out or constructed. This data, 'born digital', is the primary challenge facing curators and scholars interested in presenting comprehensive exhibitions or gaining insight into the design process of contemporary architects.
The Department of Architecture of the Art Institute, founded in 1981, was in many ways 'born' into this very challenge. Currently housing 150,000 individual artifacts (mostly drawings, but some fragments and physical models as well), the department has found itself, from its very beginning, facing the same dramatic technological changes as the architectural profession as a whole; drawings, models, and other design documents are increasingly 'virtual', and require specific technological conditions (configurations of machines, software, and technical skills) to be useful or legible.
Thorne explains: "This came about because more and more as I called architects and said, 'We're interested in your building, we're doing an exhibition on this subject or that subject, what do you have?' And they would always say, 'Well, do I send it to you on a cd, or ... what do I do?' We realized that architects more and more use the computer and generate information which may only exist as a computer file."
The study attempted to measure how widely and deeply these new technological tools had influenced the practice of modern day architects. It found that throughout nearly every phase of the design process, computers were used to investigate, describe, and communicate design intentions, and that even though there were many more combinations of software to contend with, firms still tended to create 'milestones' or other authoritative design documents during the normal design process. These milestone files, rather than presentation drawings or final models, are the new artifacts that Thorne and other curators will collect and value.
The study also recommended that the Art Institute implement a two stage archival process, keeping these design snapshots in 'archival' or 'open' formats, like TIFF or PDF files, as well as the original 'native' files of the particular software that created the files. The archival formats will ensure interoperability with future computers and software, and the native formats would be useful for 'digital archeologists' interested in understanding precisely what data was stored in the file, how objects were drawn or constructed, and so on.
The task of organizing, documenting, and safeguarding this data is a daunting task -- the system Thorne and Urban envision will only begin in 18 months, and the true test of it will be in the coming decades, as architects working now become the subject of exhibitions.
This new endeavor -- archiving complex digital files, rather than paper drawings -- forces a change in the relationship between the museum and contemporary, working architects. museums can no longer wait five, ten, or fifty years for an architect or a trend to become worthy of inclusion in an archival collection. Thorne says:
"We must collect with you as you design. We can't wait and come back 5 years from now and say "Hey, lets go back and look at your files from 5 years ago, " because you don't have them, you don't have the time, you don't remember, and it's trying to decipher something that's far too complex. For me this is the most exciting area: we have to stop being chroniclers and we have to take more risks and say: 'show me that building' ... and we have to work together much more closely where you keep your snapshots, and we keep in closer dialogue. Because, 10 years from now, I can't go into your archival drawer and pull it out and paw through your drawings."
What's interesting is that a technical concern -- how you preserve and understand these new kinds of digital files and processes -- has changed the way that the art institute views its collection and its role as curator. Shifting the emphasis from a primarily academic and historic focus to current trends in architecture is risky, but Thorne believes it's worth it:
"I have to say, this is one area where I'm really proud that the Art Institute has taken the lead role in looking at this very important issue rather than sidestepping it, and taking the traditional museum role of 'history is important, the future is ... well, we'll see what happens.' We took the bull by the horns, of course with the incredible support of donors, and said 'We have to deal with this. you folks are using the computer day in and day out, and what are we going to do in the future.'"
synopsis by Noah Luken