Anna Mladentseva

Infrastructural Approaches to the Conservation of Software-based Art & Design

I am a PhD student funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and University College London. My practice-led PhD looks at the conservation of three case studies of software-based art and design in the V&A collection, including a mobile application, a time-based media installation and an early computer-based artwork. In recognition that conservation often draws from the knowledge and resources of non-conservators and communities that are external to museums, my research questions how museums can interface with these infrastructures in a structured and equitable manner. I have published my research in the Journal of the Institute of Conservation and have won an international speaker grant to present at the electronic media panel of the American Institute for Conservation’s annual meeting. In addition to my PhD, I am a teaching assistant in UCL across subjects including history of art, conservation and programming, and I work on additional conservation projects.

My supervisors are Dr Hélia Marçal (History of Art, UCL), Dr Pip Laurenson (History of Art, UCL), Dr Oliver Duke-Williams (Information Studies, UCL) and Dr Pedro Gaspar (Head of Conservation, V&A).

Selected publications

Mladentseva, A. et al., Toward a Minor Tech: A Peer-reviewed Newspaper, Volume 12, Issue 1. Edited by Christian Ulrik Andersen and Geoff Cox. Aarhus: Aarhus University, transmediale/darc.

Mladentseva, A., ‘Responding to obsolescence in Flash-based net art: a case study on migrating Sinae Kim’s Genesis’, Journal of the Institute of Conservation, 45 (1), pp. 52–68 doi:10.1080/19455224.2021.2007412

Conference papers and presentations

‘On the Conservation of Flash-based Net Art’, delivered at VARIANT: Documenting New Media Art, digitalSSM Archive & Research Space at the Sakip Sabanci Museum & University, online, 1 February 2023

‘Peer-to-Peer: Towards the Collective Conservation of Net Art’, delivered at Electronic Media Session, American Institute for Conservation 50th Annual Meeting, Los Angeles, 15 May 2022

Media

Art & Obsolescence Podcast, Episode 040: Anna Mladentseva, 7 June 2022