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Instagram be GONE

My old Instagram account has been languishing unused for about two years, finally got round to moving the images and videos over here. Now I’ll be keeping all that content on this site in a photolog. If they open up their API a bit someday then I’ll syndicate from here to there, but I’m not holding my breath.

Note to self: use Handbrake to convert .mov videos to .mp4. The standard “Fast 1080p30” preset (see docs) is fine for now.

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1979 to 2012 on 70,000+ VHS tapes

Black and white photobooth photos of Marion Stokes

Marion Stokes recorded television news twenty-four hours a day between 1979 to 2012 on to over 70,000 VHS and Betamax tapes, planning her days around the length of a tape and storing her output in various apartments. Her collection was donated to the Internet Archive and the tapes are now being digitised so that they will eventually be available to the public online.

Recorder: The Marion Stokes Project is a documentary, a portrait of Marion Stokes by filmmaker Matt Wolf. The image above is a still from the trailer. I really hope to see it at some point, maybe it will come to London. Thanks to RE for bringing this to my attention.

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Article on digital preservation for artists by Ben Fino-Radin

Off the back of some recent thoughts regarding the archiving of websites, SB sent me a link to “Digital Preservation in the Artist’s Studio” by Ben Fino-Radin. The article provides an extremely thorough overview of what steps might be involved in digitally archiving studio output, along with a few real-world examples. Love this stuff.

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On archiving/preserving websites

SB and I have been chatting about the whys, whens and hows involved in archiving a website. Archiving is always an uphill battle. It’s hard to take care of things as they age no matter what the material, and ageing code comes with a specific set of worries.

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Archival boxes from Conservation By Design

With the recent move from Leeds back down to London, we’ve really had to take stock of our work storage situation. It’s been a bit sub-par, consisting of an assortment of A-sized folders, cardboard poster-tubes, and some sturdy but very light-penetrable boxes.

Saw some very nice grey storage boxes by Conservation By Design at a degree show last year, might have been Premier Duo PM Metal-Edge boxes. A few of these would be a step in the right direction. Next up: sort out comprehensive digital storage once and for all…

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The Mac Photographic Archive

The Mac Photographic Archive

The Mac Photographic Archive was started by GSA graduate Lizzie Malcolm and Daniel Powers following the fire that consumed much of the Macintosh Building at the Glasgow School of Art. Anyone who has ever visited the building can upload photos in an effort to digitally preserve the history of the iconic building. The archive is growing, but they’re still lacking photos of some areas (particularly the studios). If you have something to share, contribute.