[Death: Urs Lang. Nurse: Erin Sims.]
video made as part of presentation comparing conservation to being a handmaiden (of teleology) against entropy shown at the Chersonesos, Ukraine in 2004 whilst working on conservation of ancient stelae for Chersonesos Heritage Authority and Univ. of Texas.
btw. generally decay (ie. loss) is preserved because it is information - only in design museology/conservation are attempts made to reassert 'original' design ie. to remove accretions of time and restore design features (and so unlike in archaeological/ethnographic contexts)
conservation generally attempts to mitigate the mechanisms that cause decay where possible
in digital conservation the same applies ie. transcoding allows for preservation/transmission of the cultural artefact, but material substrate is also preserved/retained (eg. format substrates) in the name of probabilistic science (ie. future proofing for narrowing probability of data loss/interpretation through technological advance)
