Press release from DAMsmart
DAMsmart, Australia’s leading audiovisual preservation and digitisation agency, has been contracted by the National Gallery of Australia (NGA) and master printer and publisher, Kenneth Tyler, to digitise and preserve the Kenneth Tyler film and sound collection at the NGA.
Kenneth Tyler established leading print workshops and publishing houses on both the West and East coasts of the United States. He has collaborated with some of the leading artists of the post-war period and many of the significant projects they created together have been captured on film. Kenneth Tyler advocates the importance of understanding the art of collaboration and, as such, has set out to establish a ‘virtual printmaking institute’ from which everyone can learn. With a hands-on role in the creation of his legacy, Tyler’s vision is to create a digital repository that is accessible by all and will be available for generations to come. The collection will be a foundation for study, research, instruction, and the sharing of resources and ideas. The digital repository already holds a vast array of static records of Tyler’s career, including images and documents, and film will make a valuable addition to these holdings.
Luke Marks, Head of IT and Digital Imaging at the NGA, said “We have worked closely with Tyler to develop a framework for his vision. Over the last ten years we have created a fantastic website that encapsulates the rich history of Tyler’s extraordinary career. It highlights the influence he has had on the art world and the enormous respect he has garnered in his field and the community at large”. Marks went on to say “The next stage of the plan is to make his rarely seen 16mm and 35mm film collection available to the public. To bring this to fruition we needed a specialist partner to ensure we maximised and preserved the cultural value locked up in the analogue film format. We chose DAMsmart as our project partner as they delivered a credible and experienced digitisation solution”
Using state-of-the-art film transfer workflows, DAMsmart is due to complete the project in late 2011 and the resulting digitised material will be used in future exhibitions and published on the Kenneth Tyler Collection website. Joe Kelly, DAMsmart Media and Preservation Manager, said “This is another really significant arts project that DAMsmart is excited to be involved in. We worked closely with the NGA to develop a solution that Tyler could be confident in, and that would ensure the integrity of his legacy continues.” Kelly went on to say “we will be preparing the film for digitisation prior to migration using our purpose built archival film transfer units. We use a sprocketless transport that minimises the stress on the film and allows us to preserve even significantly damaged media. The process will see the films being digitised as high definition, 920 x 1080p, with the digitised collections delivered back in a JPEG2000 file format, the optimal format for audiovisual preservation.” DAMsmart uses a sophisticated customised film workflow and stringent quality controls to ensure the integrity of the collection is maintained the entire way through the process, from the logistics to film preparation to the transfer process and delivery.
The Kenneth Tyler film collection captures vision of the extraordinary story of artist/printer collaboration in post-war printmaking in America. As each artist brought their individual talents and ideas to the studio, Tyler was able to facilitate and also to extend the possibilities available to them. Many artists including David Hockney, Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein, Joan Mitchell, James Rosenquist, Steven Sorman and Frank Stella are represented in this exceptional collection of digital material that documents a unique moment in American printmaking.
About DAMsmart: DAMsmart are Australia’s leading audiovisual digitisation specialists. www.damsmart.com.au