Caroline Gil Rodríguez

Art and Obsolescence

This week we’re visiting with media conservator and conservator Caroline Gil Rodríguez, who last year became director of preservation and media collections at the Electronic Arts Intermix. EAI played an incredibly pivotal role in cementing video art’s place in history, and there Caroline is doing exciting work not only to safeguard their important collection, but also to help shape and rethink what role a place like EAI plays within the broader time-based media conservation ecosystem today, many decades after the organizations founding. In our chat we hear about Caroline’s vibrant professional journey, and the incredible array of positions she has held across many different contexts within the moving image preservation world – from handling nitrate film, preserving Catalonia’s legacy of silent film – to assessing software based works of art at the Museum of Modern Art and the MET. Our chat with Caroline further expands the global map we’ve been building on the show of time-based media conservation practice, as we hear all about her origins and early professional years in Puerto Rico. Tune in to hear Caroline’s story!

At the time we’re releasing this episode Puerto Rico is reeling from the devastation of hurricane Fiona. Below is a list of local aid and relief organizations courtesy our guest – please consider supporting them if you are able:

• Taller Salud- Feminist grassroots organization that works with low-income and mostly Black women and communities in Loíza. Donation page: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/fionaresponse
• AgitArte | Papel Machete- AgitArte is an organization of working class artists and cultural organizers who work at the intersections of race, class, gender, sexuality and ideology. Donation page: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/fionaresponse
• Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Puerto Rico (MAC) - Community Contemporary Art Museum in Santurce, San Juan, PR. Artist Emergency Fund - PayPal.Me/museoMACPR
• Pitirre Proyectos- a Puerto Rican based organization, 501c3 non-profit launched to provide direct aid to the artist community in the island. Artist Relief fundraiser: https://www.pitirreproyectos.org/donate

Other links from the conversation with Caroline
> M&M proyectos curator Michy Marxuach https://www.cifo.org/index.php/visit/leadership/item/596?tmpl=biographies&TB_iframe=true&height=500&width=900

> We didn’t ask permission, we just did it… https://camstl.org/exhibitions/we-didnt-ask-permission-we-just-did-it/

> Recording of noise band Cornucopia, at Iámbica Festival https://archive.org/details/Live_SanJuan_01