Transformation Digital Art is LI-MA's annual international symposium on the preservation of digital art. Hosted across two immersive days at our home base in Amsterdam, LAB111, the symposium invites artists, curators, institutions, scholars, and students to come together and push the boundaries of digital art conservation. This year, we will explore new research and practices looking at the generative and circular potential of performance and media art (documentation), including the intersections of AI, robotics, and media art, through presentations, workshops, and discussions. Join us as we explore how digital artworks are documented, preserved, and presented.

The programme below is confirmed, but additional information will later be provided regarding more detailed timing and descriptions of individual programme elements, as well as participant biographies. To discover the programme of Day 1, follow this link. To stay updated, subscribe to our newsletter.

09:30 Registration & coffee 

10:00–12:45 On Practices and Politics of Legacy and Taking Care

Moderated by Gaby Wijers.

Gaby Wijers (director, LI-MA) – Welcome and introduction

How Do You Transmit Your Legacy & How Do You Gain Knowledge?

How do we acquire, document, and share specialist knowledge in digital art preservation? Paulien ‘t Hoen (Coordinator, SBMK and practical philosopher), Gaby Wijers (Director, LI-MA), Claudia Röck (Time-based art conservator), Dusan Barok (Researcher, editor and artist), and Agnes Vugts (Advisor and co-founder, Raadsaam) explore the different types of knowledge in the field and strategies for inventorying, recording, and integrating them into institutional and personal workflows. The goal: a sustainable knowledge flow that strengthens practice over time. The panelists will share their approaches to knowledge transfer, offering insights into their methods, challenges, and successes.

12:00 - 13:30 Lunch

13:30 - 15:15 Restaging and Layers of Documentation (Interactive sessions)

Attendees may choose ONE of the following sessions, taking place simultaneously.

Working Through the Digital to Open Up Accessibility in Performance Practices

In this workshop, Anik Fournier and Sara Giannini (Curators & researchers, If I Can’t Dance, I Don't Want to Be a Part of Your Revolution) will examine the intersections of accessibility and performance practices, with a focus on the role of the digital. They will explore how digital tools can expand access in the creation, presentation, and documentation of performance works. Through this lens, concepts such as presence, embodiment, perception, interpretation, scoring, and communicability are enriched. The session will center around archival material and documentation from one of their past commissions: Constantina Zavitsanos’ Entrophy (2022).

New Approaches in Archiving Media Art

Wiki as Information Infrastructures for Media Art 

In this workshop, Bert Lemmens (Art historian and digital collections expert) will introduce the use of Wikis for media art documentation, followed by two case studies: MEHI (Media Art History in Finland) and the integration of data within Wikimedia projects. 

MEHI: Media Art History in Finland Project

The MEHI project (Media Art History in Finland) was a three-year initiative dedicated to documenting and publishing Finnish media art while building sustainable infrastructures for its future preservation. Susanna Ånäs (ED, AvoinGLAM / Open Knowledge Finland) will present key outcomes, including a comprehensive database, the integration of media art data into Wikimedia, and the role of open access in increasing visibility and accessibility.

Workshop: Data Modeling A Vernacular of File Formats

FOMU (FotoMuseum Antwerp) is developing a Wikibase data model to document complex digital artworks. Kaat Somers (Registrar, FOMU), Bert Lemmens, and Rosa Menkman (Artist) will introduce their approach, focusing on complex artworks like Menkman's A Vernacular of File Formats (2010). The session includes a hands-on component, working with Menkman to refine the proposed model.

15:15-15:30 Break

15:30 - 17:30 Matching Data 

The Politics of Loss: Preservation, Disappearance, and Digital Futures

Digital societies are imagined as sites of endless accumulation, yet loss, through deletion, obsolescence, and decay—is just as fundamental. Preservation is not neutral; it is political, shaping memory and cultural heritage. Nanna Bonde Thylstrup (Assistant Professor, Copenhagen University) will examine digital preservation’s contested nature, drawing on research into archival practices across institutions and independent archivers. What is saved, and what disappears? Exploring the tensions between memory and forgetting, it offers a critical lens on digital infrastructures, their fragility, and their role in shaping history.

Art, AI and Robotics: Documentation Challenges and Possibilities of AI for Media Art and Performance

This session with experts Steve Benford (UKRI Turing AI Fellow and Professor of Collaborative Computing, University of Nottingham), Gabriella Giannachi (Professor of Performance and New Media, University of Exeter), Richard Ramchun (Filmmaker & researcher, University of Nottingham), and artists Lancel/Maat will explore the creative intersection of art, AI, and robotics, focusing on the first insights of Somabotics: Creatively Embodying Artificial Intelligence, Steve Benford’s Turing Fellowship project funded by UKRI. The panel will examine AI's role in documenting and preserving media art. 

17:30 End