This text is from the publication Permanence Through Change: The Variable Media Approach, published in 2003 by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and the Daniel Langlois Foundation for Art, Science, and Technology.

In this text by Steve Dietz (formerly of the Walker Art Center) he outlines the realities of accessioning works of Internet Art into a major museum collection.

As with any collecting, contemporary-arts institution, the Walker Art Center faces a daily host of preservation issues, from meat dresses (Jana Sterbak, Vanitas: Flesh Dress for an Albino Anorectic, 1987) to newly old and magnetically fragile media (Nam June Paik, TV Cello, 1971), to culinary performances (Rirkrit Tiravanija, untitled, 1995), to outdoor installations that are "ephemeral, reusable, and time-based" (Mark Luyten, On a Balcony, 1991-97), to paintings that are easier to wall over than deinstall (Sigmar Polke, Frau Herbst und ihre zwei Tochter, 1991), to a digital-art collection (Janet Cohen, Keith Frank, and Jon Ippolito, Unreliable Archivist, 1998).

As such, the Walker's formal acquisitions policy requires a checklist that asks questions such as, "In case of equipment obsolescence, the Walker may find it necessary to replace vintage equipment with newer components. If this can be done in a discreet manner (i.e., bypassing original equipment), is this acceptable to the artist?" and "Does the artist wish to be consulted, should such a case arise?" These questions are precisely why the Walker is interested in the Variable Media Network. It offers a way to explore, expand, and potentially codify—in a flexible format—the inclusion of artistic intent in issues of preservation, interpretation, and presentation that are a condition of much contemporary art and are independent of materials or medium.

In 1998, the Walker acquired the pioneering Web site ada'web (http://www.adaweb.walkerart.org). It was clear at the time that this would be the equivalent of gassing the butterfly, no matter how soft the cushion to which it would be pinned. If I had my druthers, I would rather that we didn't have the opportunity to collect this site, and that its curator and art director, Benjamin Weil and Vivian Selbo, and their crew continued to innovate the very idea of online art. That said, once the founder-creators decided they no longer had a viable means to maintain ada'web as an ongoing site, it was and is important to keep it accessible, even if fixed.

Since then, numerous issues surrounding maintaining technical accessibility have arisen. We are blundering our way through some of these important issues, while trying to keep the principle of accessibility in front of what might be called archival accuracy—at least at the software level. We hope that as the field expands, we can resolve issues that we don't have the resources to tackle alone. One of the most interesting issues has arisen from authors requesting text changes. One author-artist realized he had written a factually incorrect statement and wanted to change what he had posted as part of a community forum. I resisted what I perceived as a changing of the historical record. The artist argued passionately that digital discourse is by its nature fluid and because of this, OK to change. We compromised on a disclaimer statement without agreeing on a philosophy, but for me this experience highlights one of the core virtues and potential pitfalls of the Variable Media Network. Certainly it is important and even valiant to conscientiously accede to the artist's intentions—no argument. But at what point might this change the historical record? Is this a concern? And if so, for whom?

With digital media, one always wants to answer a conundrum with "both solutions are possible." Presumably, it's not difficult to both change the files and keep a record of the change. But this is best achieved through some reasonably systematic process: Another reason we are interested in the Variable Media Network.