Manon Abt
Between Re-imagination and Resignation: The Preservation of Early Computer-Based Artworks (1960-1991)
PhD supervisor: Prof Pip Laurenson (primary) and Dr Jenny Nachtigall (secondary)
Working title for PhD: Between Re-imagination and Resignation: The Preservation of Early Computer-Based Artworks (1960-1991)
My research focuses on the preservation of early computer-based artworks created between 1960 and 1991. Nearly lost, hardly described in archives, and operating with obsolete technologies, these artworks require complex restoration. At the boundaries of art and science, these works face difficulties entering museums’ collections.
My thesis provides a significant comparative analysis of the conservation strategies museums, academic research groups, or artists have developed to preserve and exhibit computer-based artworks. I assess their efficacy and examine how they engage with and challenge conservation theories through case studies of collections located in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Poland and Japan.
The project seeks to impact institutional decision-making and ensure computer-based artworks are not lost from historical narratives by increasing the dialogue between institutions and disciplines.
Publications
Rizza, Giancarlo, and Manon Abt, ‘Duchamp ou l’exploration de l’infravisible’, Plastir, (December 2024) Forthcoming.
Teaching
- Postgraduate Teaching Assistant, Methodologies of Making, Department of History of Art, UCL, January – March 2025.
- Postgraduate Teaching Assistant, History of Science, Department of Science and Technology Studies, UCL, September – December 2024.
Awards
Critical Histories of Art Studentship – Department of History of Art, UCL
Contact: manon.abt.23@ucl.ac.uk
RPS Profile
Qualifications
- Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, MA History of Art 2021-2022
- Ecole du Louvre - MA Museology 2019-2021
- Lettres Sorbonne Université – BA History of Art 2016-2019
- Lettres Sorbonne Université – BA History 2016-2019