DIGITAL COLLECTION MOTI MUSEUM + STEDELIJK MUSEUM AMSTERDAM
MUSEUM COLLECTION ACQUISITIONSCollection acquisition of 17 digital artworks for a shared museum collection of MOTI Museum and the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, featuring works from national and international artists from the past 25 years.
ARTISTS OF WHOM WORK WAS ACQUIRED FOR MUSEUM COLLECTIONS:
Jodi, Constant Dullaart, Jon Rafman, Petra Cortright, Jan Robert Leegte, Floris Kaayk, Vuk Cosic, Martine Neddam/Mouchette, Rosa Menkman, Rafael Rozendaal, Jonas Lund,Michael Mandiberg, UV Production House, Geoffrey Lillemon.
GENERAL:
collaboration with Mieke Gerritzen, Bart Rutten, Beatrix Ruf, Karen Archey, Annet Dekker
supported by Bankgiro Loterij
2016
In 2016, when MOTI, Museum if the Image, was expected to merge with a local heritage-focused museum, on the initiative of MOTI Museum director Mieke Gerritzen, the project arised to secure and magnify the museum’s digital art collection relevance for the field, by procuring for the museum a significant collection ofa carefully considered selection of artworks representative of this artistic sphere.
MOTI Museum teamed up with Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam in what was to be a first and innovative colaboration: as partnered museums collectively acquire a large selection of artworks for a shared museum collection collaboration.
As curator of MOTI Museum, I selected the artworks with MOTI Museum director Mieke Gerritzen, and realised the acquisition of the artworks for the two museum collections. For this immense effort to ensure digital art found a place in relevant museum collections, we collaborated on this project with Bart Rutten (at the time as head of collection Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam), Beatrix Ruf (at the time director of Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam), and Karen Archey (at the time newly appointed curator contemporary and time-based art at Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam) and the teams of both museums.
For selection of relevant artworks for this shared museum-collections acquisition, we focused on artists that had in their artistic practice been pivotal in discussing digital art through its’ many questions and often heated debates about how digital art could be acquired by museums, for collections from museums and in general, through the artworks’ conceptually inherent questions about digital materiality, their artistic responses towards new media technologies as always in shift, their respective components to be expected as logical non-physical entities as part of museum collections, and their critical stance as artworks on all these questions forementioned that critically encapsulate in artistic forn and concept their relevance as artworks to speak of the digital culture as a space for contemporary art to explore, and by this acquisition for MOTI Museum and Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam as shared collection, to represent for this field of art,on an international field for debate and contemporary developments of critical museology in shifting practices in relation to digital culture as an artictic field.
In total, 17 artworks were acquired for MOTI Museum’s and Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam’s shared collection effort to better represent and safeguard this section of contemporary art, critical of new media’s influence of/on art.
As all artworks in this acquisition required, in collaboration all with the artists, careful consideration of the medium the artworks were acquired as, an overview of the outcomes of these considerations as museum collection acquired material is stated in the below to be found overview of acquired artworks, with clear definitions of artwork-media as acquired.
The artworks acquired in this project are:
- GeoGoo_GIcon (2015), JODI (medium of acquisition: video-registration of website)
- Erysichthon (2015), Jon Rafman (medium of acquisition: video)
- A Vernalucar of File Formats (2010), Rosa Menkman (medium of acquisition: databse/selection of images, video’s, instructioons for presentation in multiple exhibition formats)
- Mouchette (1996-ongoing), Martine Neddam (medium of acquisition: artwork acquired as ‘Version 1’ as delivery for acquisition, containing: database of images and videos pf registration of artwork, database of online presented digital structure of artwork at moment of acquisition)*
- Scrollbar Composition (2000), Jan Robert Leegte (medium of acquisition: website)
- Abstract Browsing/REDDIT (2016), Rafaël Rozendaal (medium of acquisition: canvas/tapestry)
- Jennifer in Paradise (2013), Constant Dullaart (medium of acquisition: wallpaper)
- DullTech (2014), Constant Dullaart (medium of acquisition: mediaplayer, promotional video)
- Deep ASCII-Deep Throat (1998), Vuk Cosic (medium of acquisition: video)
- Animated GIF Model (2007-2012), Olia Lialina (medium of acquisition: selection of GIF animations, selection of registration videos of implementation of GIF animations online)
- Fair Warning (2016), Jonas Lund (medium of acquisition: video registration of website)
- swnoflaek2 (2008), Petra Cortright (medium of acquisition: video-file of original Youtube-upload)
- AirBNB Housing Solution (2016), UV Production House (medium of acquisition: multitude of online-automaticallly-acquired objects/products to recreate artwork by acquisitor)
- The Modular Body (2016), Floris Kaayk (medium of acquisition: 3D printed object, databse of promotional as part of artwork, database of media-covaregae in images and videos in response to artwork)
- Remixing Classis Cartoons (2012), Geoffrey Lillemon (medium of acquisition: video)
- Psychedelic Facial Expressions (2012), Geoffrey Lillemon (medium of acquisition: video)
- Print Wikipedia Contributor Appendix (2015), Michael Mandiberg (medium of acquisition: collection of 32 books)
* For the acquisition of this artwork as ‘Version 1’, we collaborated with Annet Dekker as advisor.
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Image: still from GeoGoo_GIcon (2015), JODI
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Image: still from Erysichthon (2015), Jon Rafman
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Image: still from A Vernalucar of File Formats (2010), Rosa Menkman
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Image: still from Mouchette (1996-ongoing), Martine Neddam
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Image: still from Scrollbar Composition (2000), Jan Robert Leegte
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Image: photograph of Abstract Browsing/REDDIT (2016) at Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Rafaël Rozendaal
![]()
Image: still from Jennifer in Paradise (2013), Constant Dullaart
![]()
Image: promotional image of DullTech (2014), Constant Dullaart
![]()
Image: still from Deep ASCII-Deep Throat (1998), Vuk Cosic
![]()
Image: collection of images from artwork Animated GIF Model (2007-2012), Olia Lialina
![]()
Image: still from Fair Warning (2016), Jonas Lund
![]()
Image: still from swnoflaek2 (2008), Petra Cortright
![]()
Image: promotional image of artwork AirBNB Housing Solution (2016), UV Production House
![]()
Image: still from The Modular Body (2016), Floris Kaayk
![]()
Image: still from Remixing Classis Cartoons (2012), Geoffrey Lillemon
![]()
Image: still from Psychedelic Facial Expressions (2012), Geoffrey Lillemon
![]()
Image: photograph of previous installation of artwork Print Wikipedia Contributor Appendix (2015), Michael Mandiberg
In 2016, when MOTI, Museum if the Image, was expected to merge with a local heritage-focused museum, on the initiative of MOTI Museum director Mieke Gerritzen, the project arised to secure and magnify the museum’s digital art collection relevance for the field, by procuring for the museum a significant collection ofa carefully considered selection of artworks representative of this artistic sphere.
MOTI Museum teamed up with Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam in what was to be a first and innovative colaboration: as partnered museums collectively acquire a large selection of artworks for a shared museum collection collaboration.
As curator of MOTI Museum, I selected the artworks with MOTI Museum director Mieke Gerritzen, and realised the acquisition of the artworks for the two museum collections. For this immense effort to ensure digital art found a place in relevant museum collections, we collaborated on this project with Bart Rutten (at the time as head of collection Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam), Beatrix Ruf (at the time director of Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam), and Karen Archey (at the time newly appointed curator contemporary and time-based art at Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam) and the teams of both museums.
For selection of relevant artworks for this shared museum-collections acquisition, we focused on artists that had in their artistic practice been pivotal in discussing digital art through its’ many questions and often heated debates about how digital art could be acquired by museums, for collections from museums and in general, through the artworks’ conceptually inherent questions about digital materiality, their artistic responses towards new media technologies as always in shift, their respective components to be expected as logical non-physical entities as part of museum collections, and their critical stance as artworks on all these questions forementioned that critically encapsulate in artistic forn and concept their relevance as artworks to speak of the digital culture as a space for contemporary art to explore, and by this acquisition for MOTI Museum and Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam as shared collection, to represent for this field of art,on an international field for debate and contemporary developments of critical museology in shifting practices in relation to digital culture as an artictic field.
In total, 17 artworks were acquired for MOTI Museum’s and Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam’s shared collection effort to better represent and safeguard this section of contemporary art, critical of new media’s influence of/on art.
As all artworks in this acquisition required, in collaboration all with the artists, careful consideration of the medium the artworks were acquired as, an overview of the outcomes of these considerations as museum collection acquired material is stated in the below to be found overview of acquired artworks, with clear definitions of artwork-media as acquired.
The artworks acquired in this project are:
- GeoGoo_GIcon (2015), JODI (medium of acquisition: video-registration of website)
- Erysichthon (2015), Jon Rafman (medium of acquisition: video)
- A Vernalucar of File Formats (2010), Rosa Menkman (medium of acquisition: databse/selection of images, video’s, instructioons for presentation in multiple exhibition formats)
- Mouchette (1996-ongoing), Martine Neddam (medium of acquisition: artwork acquired as ‘Version 1’ as delivery for acquisition, containing: database of images and videos pf registration of artwork, database of online presented digital structure of artwork at moment of acquisition)*
- Scrollbar Composition (2000), Jan Robert Leegte (medium of acquisition: website)
- Abstract Browsing/REDDIT (2016), Rafaël Rozendaal (medium of acquisition: canvas/tapestry)
- Jennifer in Paradise (2013), Constant Dullaart (medium of acquisition: wallpaper)
- DullTech (2014), Constant Dullaart (medium of acquisition: mediaplayer, promotional video)
- Deep ASCII-Deep Throat (1998), Vuk Cosic (medium of acquisition: video)
- Animated GIF Model (2007-2012), Olia Lialina (medium of acquisition: selection of GIF animations, selection of registration videos of implementation of GIF animations online)
- Fair Warning (2016), Jonas Lund (medium of acquisition: video registration of website)
- swnoflaek2 (2008), Petra Cortright (medium of acquisition: video-file of original Youtube-upload)
- AirBNB Housing Solution (2016), UV Production House (medium of acquisition: multitude of online-automaticallly-acquired objects/products to recreate artwork by acquisitor)
- The Modular Body (2016), Floris Kaayk (medium of acquisition: 3D printed object, databse of promotional as part of artwork, database of media-covaregae in images and videos in response to artwork)
- Remixing Classis Cartoons (2012), Geoffrey Lillemon (medium of acquisition: video)
- Psychedelic Facial Expressions (2012), Geoffrey Lillemon (medium of acquisition: video)
- Print Wikipedia Contributor Appendix (2015), Michael Mandiberg (medium of acquisition: collection of 32 books)
* For the acquisition of this artwork as ‘Version 1’, we collaborated with Annet Dekker as advisor.
Image: still from GeoGoo_GIcon (2015), JODI
Image: still from Erysichthon (2015), Jon Rafman
Image: still from A Vernalucar of File Formats (2010), Rosa Menkman
Image: still from Mouchette (1996-ongoing), Martine Neddam
Image: still from Scrollbar Composition (2000), Jan Robert Leegte
Image: photograph of Abstract Browsing/REDDIT (2016) at Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Rafaël Rozendaal
Image: still from Jennifer in Paradise (2013), Constant Dullaart
Image: promotional image of DullTech (2014), Constant Dullaart
Image: still from Deep ASCII-Deep Throat (1998), Vuk Cosic 
Image: collection of images from artwork Animated GIF Model (2007-2012), Olia Lialina
Image: still from Fair Warning (2016), Jonas Lund
Image: still from swnoflaek2 (2008), Petra Cortright
Image: promotional image of artwork AirBNB Housing Solution (2016), UV Production House
Image: still from The Modular Body (2016), Floris Kaayk
Image: still from Remixing Classis Cartoons (2012), Geoffrey Lillemon
Image: still from Psychedelic Facial Expressions (2012), Geoffrey Lillemon
Image: photograph of previous installation of artwork Print Wikipedia Contributor Appendix (2015), Michael Mandiberg