ZURICH.- To mark World Day for Audiovisual Heritage on 27 October, the Kunsthaus Zürich showcases the rapid changes in video art, its techniques of production, storage and playback equipment and methods of presentation, and the challenges museums face in conserving media art. The presentation includes exhibits before and after restoration and digitization by Marina Abramović, Gilbert & George, Nancy Holt, Joan Jonas, Muda Mathis and Sus Zwick, Bruce Naumann, Elodie Pong and Ulrike Rosenbach, ranging from early video works on 4:3 CRT monitors to a video projection from 2006. There’s plenty more to discover – even for digital natives – as documents from the museum archives recording the purchase of the works as well as original cassettes from the early days of video art reveal the media that preceded the formats of today and how audiovisual techniques and image media have changed since the 1970s.

ARTISTS IN CONVERSATION
On Sunday 27 October from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. the Kunsthaus is hosting a panel discussion with Elodie Pong and Muda Mathis. The artists meet Agathe Jarczyk (Atelier für Videokonservierung, Bern) and Mirjam Varadinis (Curator of the Video Collection, Kunsthaus Zürich) to talk about the demands and risks of producing audiovisual works, conserving them and presenting them in the museum context. The discussion will be moderated by Kerstin Mürer (Head of Conservation and Restoration, Kunsthaus Zürich).

CONSERVING AND PROVIDING ACCESS TO THE VIDEO COLLECTION
A project to restore and digitize 260 analogue tapes from the Kunsthaus’s video collection has been under way since 2014, with support from Memoriav – Association for the preservation of the audiovisual heritage of Switzerland – and the Sophie and Karl Binding Foundation. The collection was first established in the late 1970s and now offers a representative overview of the development of video as an artistic medium, from its origins to the present day. Video works are regularly included in temporary exhibitions. They can also be viewed for study purposes and by anyone interested in the Kunsthaus library.