Reconstruction of new media artworks : a theoretical model and two pilot studies

Vaupotič, Aleš (author), Batagelj, Borut (author), Bovcon, Narvika (author)

The technological aspect of new media art presents a complex issue for museums or artists wishing to preserve new media artworks for an extended period of time. Additionally, new media art typically exists at a fragile threshold of potentiality: through imagination and the implementation of new tech-nical solutions, it reflects societal changes by shaping emerging communication models. This paper addresses various challenges in reconstructing and preserving new media artworks and describes several theoretical and practical approaches successfully implemented in Slovenia. Our theoretical framework highlights three parameters that define a new media object: 1) the interfaces-database relation, 2) single-user game-like interaction vs. digital community platform, and 3) machine-based creativity. These parameters can be employed to assess whether and how the original and recon-structed projects retain their fundamental characteristics, and if these changes align with the reper-cussions of technological mediation in society as well. The paper presents two pilot studies on the reconstruction of new media artworks that were nonfunctional in 2022: from 2000, Nation – Culture by Vuk Ćosić, and from 2005, Matrix Coincidence Dating Club by Srečo Dragan.

• Language: English
• Keywords: born-digital cultural heritage, artwork reconstruction, Slovenian new media art, Vuk Ćosić, Srečo Dragan
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FRI - Faculty of Computer and Information Science
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2025
• Number of pages: 11 str.
• Numbering: No. 36
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-170641
• UDC: 7.038.53:004
• ISSN on article: 1695-5951
• DOI: 10.7238/artnodes.v0i36.431875
• COBISS.SI-ID: 242180355
• Publication date in RUL: 11.07.2025

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Artnodes
• Shortened title: Artnodes
• Publisher: Fundació per la Universitat Oberta de Catalunya
• ISSN: 1695-5951
• COBISS.SI-ID: 68394499

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.

Secondary language

• Language: Spanish
• Title: Reconstrucción de obras de arte de los nuevos medios
• Keywords: izvorno-digitalna kulturna dediščina, rekonstrukcija umetniškega dela, slovenska novomedijska umetnost, Vuk Ćosić, Srečo Dragan

Projects

• Funder: ARIS - Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency
• Project number: J7-3158
• Name: Trajnostna digitalna hramba slovenske novomedijske umetnosti