Preserving Virtual Reality Artworks A Museum Perspective

As artists increasingly engage with virtual reality (VR) technologies, the artworks they produce are beginning to enter the collections of cultural heritage institutions. Museums, libraries and archives are therefore assessing how these complex works might be brought into collections and how they might be stabilised to ensure they can be exhibited in the long-term. Reporting on ongoing research at Tate in London, in this talk we will introduce our perspective as conservators of time-based media (broadly understood as art with a technological component that unfolds over time) on the challenges we face in preserving virtual reality artworks. We expect this to be of interest to SIGGRAPH attendees who are considering the legacy of their creations and the ways in which virtual reality artworks (and related technologies) might be stabilised in order to secure their future.