Résistance | Resistance

<< FRANÇAIS

Passages bring us from one place to another, one state of being to the next, marking time and place and perspective.

Art allows us to travel, be it through the imagination or physically along the white walls of a gallery or down the twisting lines of code, inside a computer. As librarians and archivists, we play a key role in guiding observers and absorbers of art to understand the life lived behind the work, how media changes but efforts remain to maintain the message, how conferences and professional transitions can enrich and support our profession. This year, a selection of texts informs the way art can be preserved, through story, recollection and transformation.

In her photo diary, A Day in the Life, Satya Miller guides us through the passage of a day in the life behind-the-scenes at the Library and Archives of the National Gallery of Canada. She provides a glimpse of her new post from the commute to the reference desk and circulation, to lunch, back to the stacks, and the view. Digital preservation is a journey in and of itself. The curation of Net art is no exception to this rule.

In a world where digital data is endlessly being created, disseminated and deleted, how can information professionals ensure the legacy of Net art works? In this travel to the realm of digital archeology, Davis Scherer explores emulation as a strategy to safeguard such fragile items. While preservation activities shed light on the history of a work in and of itself, emulation provides a window on these lost environments which were once familiar.

With this summary of the Mexico conference, Mélanie Massé offers a glimpse of the goings-on to those of us who were not able to sip margaritas in the sun and escape from earthquake drills. Touching upon many of the themes discussed at ARLISNA 2023, Massé reflects on the breadth of experience that future recipients of the ARLISMOQ Travel Award can hope to enjoy.

This January marked the anniversary of the death of celebrated Canadian artist and cineaste pioneer, Michael Snow. Paule Kelly-Rhéaume reminiscences about her summer spent working at the Edward P. Taylor Library & Archives of the AGO (Art Gallery of Ontario) and processing a recent accrual to the Michael Snow fonds. She brings readers along on an evocative journey in archival preservation that traverses 50 centimetres of paper accumulated over decades in the artist’s life, sharing her personal discoveries about art and the passage of time as she connects history with its material trace.

Throughout these four journeys, we witness how our profession is perpetually evolving, never settling on one particular aspect but ready to shift and take on new forms as we follow the movement of material and ideas. In some ways, it is our quest to capture some measure of eternity in a finite world that makes us reach for the shores of possibility.

We would like to thank the authors of this issue for their wonderful contributions (Satya Miller, Davis Scherer, Mélanie Massé and Paule Kelly-Rhéaume as well as our webmaster Saelan Twerdy).

Katherine Lewis, Martin Bonnard and Paule Kelly-Rhéaume, MOQDOC Editors