The acceptance of ephemerality and the idea of deterioration

Abstract

[EN] In an era of technology-based life, we might understand the language, but we do not pay attention to the message. The focus has been on finding strategies to preserve, document, exhibit, sell and maintain the idea of authenticity. It is essential to discuss and re-define our limits, the ethics that concern these “new” languages. This article will present some questions related to durability and acceptance. Those questions were part of a previous Ph.D. research, a study on the use of the artist’s interview aimed to collect and compare the results, the mistakes, the human part of the creative process, and the conservation field. Making questions is one of the essential parts of the research, and most of the time, not an answer can be found, not even the shadow of an academically accepted answer, but some other smells were found. This article considers two cases of study of pieces made to stay for a limited period. One based on a “photography” that is not expected to last. An image made with an old technology telephone, one printed copy, on a low-quality paper, framed with an Ikea frame. No replacement is allowed, no treatments, no migration or storage of the file. The other is limited to a particular project. The interview helped to understand the idea of deterioration. An idea linked to the durability and acceptance of its death. Are we, art-related professionals, ready to accept the real ephemerality? Do we understand the preservation of the idea of deterioration? Is the collector, the institution, ready to enjoy while it lasts?