ABSTRACT
The key argument of this paper is that the decline of technologies comes with additional care efforts. As a rule, the decline of a technology does not go unnoticed, but is addressed by several responses. Typically, when a technology is seen as becoming obsolete, users, developers, maintainers and other relevant groupings will reassess their relation to the technology, and may decide, for practical or strategic reasons, to follow the “next” technology—hence reinforcing the processes of decline. Often, however, pockets of resistance will remain, working against the tide of decline and seeking to keep the technology working. Such dedication includes caring for the constitutive networks of supply, skills and valuation.
In this paper we look at museums, as these are sites where in general decline is resisted. A key societal task of museums is to preserve and present important cultural expressions. By caring for art, they counteract the processes of decline, aging and obsolescence. In the case of time-based media art, this includes caring for technology, too. Museums, therefore, are a good site to trace and analyze care activities for declining technologies.
We will proceed in three steps. In the first step, we will review the notion of care, drawing from feminist theories and maintenance studies. To summarize the insights, we develop a framework of care activities, based on basic distinctions in objects and strategies of care. First, what benefits from care: are activities targeted at a specific artwork, a range of artworks or a technology? Second, what strategies are employed: are care activities organized around an (art) object, a network or an ecosystem?
In the second step, we will give an account of the care activities related to the artworks of the contemporary artist Tacita Dean, in particular her Disappearance at Sea (1996) at Tate, London. In her work, Tacita Dean extensively uses 16mm film. Once this was a prominent and ubiquitous technology for the production of moving images; today is it is relegated to the realms of aficionados and museums. We trace the various concerns, actor groupings and their care activities regarding the works of Tacita Dean. This account is based on an extensive document study on the history of the 16mm film sector, on field work at Tate, London over five weeks and on interviews with technicians and conservators at Tate and elsewhere.
Our third and last step is to reflect on how care is part of technological decline. While our insights are drawn from the domain of museums, our findings bring general insights. We highlight the practices of those who care for 16mm film. Caring for declining technologies, we conclude, may be performed by various strategies. Our analysis also stresses the importance of invisible work that comes with any technology, and asks the question who gets the authority to care.
