Net Art Anthology, Chapter I, 2017
Performativity, provenance and presentation in the archive
If artifacts in digital archives are no longer understood to be static objects or entities, then archiving their dynamic characteristics requires enabling a representation of their performativity. In addition to the traditional archival paradigm of search and retrieval, the digital archive needs to facilitate continuous two-way interaction between a user and the digital artifact, and in the case of the Artbase – the artwork-assemblage. Preservation of cultural memory is contingent on the performativity of the artifacts in the archive.