Franziska Frey and Nora Kennedy: conflict, confluence and conservation

the Arab image foundation and Beirut art center present conflict, confluence and conservation – photography and digital imaging in contemporary art a talk by Franziska Frey (Harvard Library) and Nora Kennedy (the metropolitan museum of art)

Franziska Frey and Nora Kennedy will explore the challenges of digital imaging and traditional photography in today’s contemporary art scene. What should artists and collectors be aware of? How can one ensure these works will be passed along to future generations? What are some of the issues of contemporary images in museum collections?

This talk is made possible through the Middle East photograph preservation initiative (meppi). From 10-18 November, sixteen representatives from important photograph collections in the Middle East are attending meppi Beirut 2011, a unique photograph preservation workshop organized jointly by the Arab image foundation, the University of Delaware, the metropolitan museum of art, and the Getty conservation institute.

Learn more about the project on www.meppi.org

Using cutting-edge contemporary artworks and recent exhibitions at the metropolitan museum of art as examples, Nora Kennedy will explore issues of artist’s intent, oversize dimensions, presentation techniques, and contemporary color imaging. the large scale lightboxes by Jeff wall, unique monoprints by Adam fuss, larger than life “blueprint for a temple” by Francesca woodman, and portraits displayed according to Richard Avedon’s desires—these examples and more will be illustrate challenges faced by museums, galleries, and private collectors on the international art scene.

Franziska Frey will explore three technical areas connected with contemporary images in museums: challenges of digital archiving, the use and importance of standards in digital imaging, and the evolution of digital prints. Illustrations, both from museum collections and personal collections will be shared and used to highlight important issues.

Kennedy and Frey will present illustrated lectures, but then welcome discussion, questions, and contributions by audience members. This evening will be of interest to collectors, photographers, artists, and anyone with digital family photograph collections.