New Bachelor’s degree course: Conservation and Restoration of New Media and Digital Information (KNMDI)

What is a laserdisc? What do you use to play a magnetic tape or how do you get an outdated console game to run on a modern computer? Answers to these and other questions are provided by the new Bachelor’s degree course in Conservation and Restoration of New Media and Digital Information at the Stuttgart State Academy of Art and Design (ABK Stuttgart)

From the winter semester 2021/2022, the Stuttgart State Academy of Art and Design (ABK Stuttgart) will be expanding the existing Master’s degree course “Conservation of New Media and Digital Information (KNMDI)” to include a new Bachelor’s degree course. In future, the Master’s course will run under the name “Conservation and Restoration of New Media and Digital Information (KNMDI)”. The aim of the preceding Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) is to impart knowledge and skills for the long-term preservation of media art, tangible and intangible cultural, archival and library assets in the fields of photography, film, audio, video and digital information.

Almost 15 years of experience in this field of work and research have shown the ABK Stuttgart that there is a need for a complete professional training program. At the beginning of the Master’s programme, the focus was initially on the areas of planning, organization and administration of projects as well as prevention in conservation. Now, the new Bachelor’s and Master’s program focuses on the entire spectrum of media, from materiality to digitality. In addition, the new teaching units in physics and chemistry provide students with in-depth material skills. In addition, courses in analog and digital electronics are offered to cover the entire spectrum of media art from mechanics and electronics to network connections.

Even now, electronic devices are rarely repaired. In the advancing digital world, in which every form of information should be quickly accessible via a cable, classic information carriers such as negative strips, records, film reels, video cassettes and even digital data carriers are disappearing from everyday life. Yet these objects are cultural assets that need to be preserved and protected. Teaching the techniques of digitization and its digital tools and the adequate preparation of the generated data for long-term archiving also play an important role.

Graduates of the course bring together the different positions between preservation and presentation, between science and art, between production and reception. They work in archives, museums, libraries and collections. They design and organize conservation and digitization concepts for various art and cultural institutions. Master’s students specialize as conservators of individual image and sound media or bring together the specialist knowledge for the conservation of complex art objects in the restoration of time-based media. They have the key skills needed to set up media art in collection or temporary exhibitions. Due to the constantly evolving profession and the development of this new training in cooperation with various cultural institutions and collections, it is to be expected that further fields of activity will arise for graduates.

Application

As with the other restoration courses at the ABK, a pre-study internship of twelve months is required for the Bachelor’s degree. A counseling interview is also recommended. Applications must be submitted directly to the ABK Stuttgart. Interested parties can find further information on the course and the application procedure at: www.abk-stuttgart.de/studium/studienangebote