ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book elaborates on the nature and characteristics of net art. It includes technology, but it is not restricted to it. The book focuses on three characteristics that are most relevant and challenging when dealing with conservation issues: the networked, processual and ambiguous nature of net art. It analyses several case studies and explores how the notion of conservation can be expanded and developed. The book focuses on documentation as a conservation method to capture an artwork, and contend that documentation is as important as conventional technical maintenance and material restoration. It begins by briefly tracing the meaning of 'documentation' to understand the different roles and functions of documents and documentation in conservation and the consequences it will have when documentation is a primary conservation method.
