10-24-2012, 08:24 AM
Art is subjective, it's human, it has no physical tangible value beyond what we give it and strangely that makes it one of the most valuable things that we have in society.
Art itself, the physical object, sound or text, means nothing at all, but what's important is that it serves as a sort of catalyst for how you react to it as a person, I'd almost go so far as to say that art is an important part of what makes you human.
The greatest and most important pieces of art, the ones that have the most impact or influence on people as a whole should obviously be preserved as long as possible, but even the best preservation techniques don't last forever.
Even airtight hermetic seals can't save something indefinitely, and converting to a digital format, which arguably changes the art and removes some of the fundamental aspects of it, is still only temporary, digital media breaks down just like everything else.
So the only real option is to restore things as well as we can, to allow future generations to see, hear or read the same art that meant so much to previous generations of people, at a base level restoring a much loved piece of art says something very important about it, it says that we as a society decided that it was worthy of saving, that a pointless item which serves no practical purpose meant enough to society to keep it for as long as we can.
Or in short, objects break and degrade over time, but the ideas they inspire can last forever.
Art itself, the physical object, sound or text, means nothing at all, but what's important is that it serves as a sort of catalyst for how you react to it as a person, I'd almost go so far as to say that art is an important part of what makes you human.
The greatest and most important pieces of art, the ones that have the most impact or influence on people as a whole should obviously be preserved as long as possible, but even the best preservation techniques don't last forever.
Even airtight hermetic seals can't save something indefinitely, and converting to a digital format, which arguably changes the art and removes some of the fundamental aspects of it, is still only temporary, digital media breaks down just like everything else.
So the only real option is to restore things as well as we can, to allow future generations to see, hear or read the same art that meant so much to previous generations of people, at a base level restoring a much loved piece of art says something very important about it, it says that we as a society decided that it was worthy of saving, that a pointless item which serves no practical purpose meant enough to society to keep it for as long as we can.
Or in short, objects break and degrade over time, but the ideas they inspire can last forever.