ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the question of whether the conservation of software-based artworks differs significantly from traditional time-based media works of art. In contrast, software is a more diverse, non-standardized, and fast-moving technological environment, and the systems which make up software-based artworks are often more diffuse. The difference for software is that it is not chemical instability that is the focus of conservation, but rather instability in the technological environment upon which they depend. Traditionally, Tate curators have a mixed portfolio that is broadly organized around geographic region and historical period. Exceptions have recently been made for a curator of performance, a curator of photography, and a curator of film. According to David Davies, the artistic medium is to be understood in terms of artistic intentionality. It is therefore the way in which the medium is used to articulate an artistic statement, but also takes into consideration the influence of that medium in the final form of the work.
