ABSTRACT
Team Media was founded in 1992 and is now the longest-standing cross-disciplinary time-based media working group in any museum. In this chapter, the team members reflect upon the museum’s collaborative working culture, their standing Team Media meeting, and the resulting interdisciplinary workflows established for the care of their time-based media collections. Daniel Stokols et al give a comprehensive overview of contextual factors that influence transdisciplinary team effectiveness on intrapersonal, interpersonal, institutional, environmental, technologic, and sociopolitical levels, including empowering leaders, mutual respect, active roles and participatory group settings, organizational incentives, and informal opportunities of contact. Within this framework, different opinions and perspectives are encouraged and supported. While SFMOMA’s interdepartmental approach was borne out of a need, a challenge brought upon by complex artworks being acquired, it impressed a culture upon the collection that would eventually go beyond media arts.
