About

If we think of art as a tool with which artists are able to explore and raise questions about our human existence, the lives we lead and the society we inhabit, then media artists are right at the forefront of this discourse. They work with technology, innovation and look towards the future but are forced into a dialogue with our throw-away consumer culture as part of their process. 

Whilst being excited about what these new medias allow them to explore many artists are apprehensive about the unknowns they present, in terms of material stability, sustainability and maintenance. There has been a fair amount of research done into how to conserve media artworks after they have been created, often carried out by museums or institutions, not to mention Rafael Lozano Hemmer’s ground breaking 'Best practices for conservation of media art from an artist's perspective'. However little has yet been written about what an artist should consider before the work is even created.

Created by artist Aphra Shemza, ARTOLOGY is made as an artist resource for artists working with technology that wish to be mindful of their environmental impact and ensure the longevity of their work for generations to come. This resource does not advocate for all media artists to create work centred around climate issues, but does call for a seamless integration of a sustainable practice into a media arts practice; one which does not inhibit it or alter the work conceptually but makes it stronger in the long run and leads the way for the other arts to follow. It starts with the artist.
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1. Ai Weiwei, A rebel of Poet Roots: Hsieh, C (2008) New York Arts Magazine, March-April.