What is the Object? Identifying and describing time-based artworks

A time-based art (TBA) project team was established at the Art Gallery of New South Wales to undertake research and development, to address significant gaps in collection management practice, which had not kept pace with developments in art practice. This paper describes one key area of work undertaken by the TBA project team: the development of a cataloguing system to identify and describe time-based artworks. The history of the AGNSW TBA collection and collection management practices at AGNSW and other museums were reviewed to assist in identifying the range of practical and theoretical issues that were impacting the decision-making associated with the cataloguing of time-based artworks. Using the information gained from these sources and tested on artwork case studies, a new cataloguing system was developed in consultation with relevant staff. The new cataloguing system, which has been in use since early 2017, has underpinned the broader project, which has encompassed changes across a wide range of collection management practices necessary to facilitate the preservation and display of time-based artworks. Moreover, this system has reset institutional understanding of these works by ensuring that the cataloguing accurately represents the conceptual, physical, digital, electronic and variable elements of TBA works.