IEA Archive Preservation and Research
NYSCA Electronic Media/Film in partnership with Wave Farm, awarded the Institute for Electronic Arts a grant to bring SoAD alum Ben Fido-Radin as a consultant. Ben Fido-Radin, a leading expert in the field of digital/electronic art archiving, will be helping IEA to establish an archiving strategy sustainable into the future to steward its legacy. Our archives reached a critical juncture where we need to plan an enduring and fluid system for preservation and access aligned with best practices in the field. Even though we have been archiving throughout our 25-year history. Ben’s consultation will help IEA determine what to invest in for the next system that will safeguard our materials while allowing proper access as we prepare to launch historical research projects.
On Wednesday October 26th Ben Fido Radin will deliver a public lecture for students, faculty and staff on time-based media conservation. The lecture will cover how to attain achievable goals and a vision for safeguarding, preserving, and conservation of time-based media art.
This project is made possible with funds from the NYSCA in Partnership with Wave Farm: MAAF Forward Fund, with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
Ben Fino-Radin (they/them)
Ben Fino-Radin is an art conservator and entrepreneur passionate about helping others solve complex challenges in preserving digital art and cultural heritage. As founder of Small data Industries, Ben has collaborated with artists, estates, museums, and private collections all over the world. Before establishing Small Data, Ben served as associate Media Conservator at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), where in addition to the conservation of time-based media art, they managed the design and development of the institution’s digital repository. Prior to this, Ben led preservation initiatives at Rhizome as their inaugural Digital Conservator
They are the founder and lead conservator, Small Data Industries January 2017 – Present.
Small Data Industries is a conservation studio and consultancy providing services and support for the collection, exhibition, preservation, and storage of time-based media art. They work with institutions, artists, galleries and collectors both to build their own capacity to effectively exhibit and care for born-digital and technologically complex works of art, as well as providing ongoing services for clients that do not wish to build in-house capacity. Clients have included The Rosenkranz Collection, The Kramlich Collection, Phillips, The Whitney Museum of American Art, The DIA Art Foundation, Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum, Glenstone, the Art Gallery of Ontario, The Walker Art Center, The Australian Center for the Moving Image, The Art Institute of Chicago, The Cleveland Museum of Art, MFA Boston, The Hood Museum, Hessel Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the Museum of the Moving Image, Carnegie Mellon University Libraries and Archives, and the studios of Cory Arcangel, Clifford Ross, and Sondra Perry.
Founder and host, Art and Obsolescence Podcast September 2021 – Present.
They created this weekly podcast as a means by which to effectively raise awareness around the concerns, needs, and complexity of caring for time-based media art, and to tell the stories of the people who compose the broader ecosystem of artists, curators, conservators, collectors, technicians, and more. The show has also taken on the equitable support of artists as central to its mission, relying on listener support and philanthropy to enable the ability to provide all artist guests with generous speaking fees. At present they produce, host, edit, distribute, and promote the show entirely on their own.
Ben Fino-Radin with Director Joseph Scheer.
