Ben Fino-Radin - Artist-in-Residence

No matter what medium – ceramics, painting, sculpture, photography, or media – all works of art age and deteriorate with time. Art conservators are tasked with ensuring the care, maintenance, documentation, and repair of art – but what does this work look like when the medium involves technologies that will not only deteriorate but become obsolete and cease to function? Alfred alum Ben Fino-Radin has worked in the field of time-based media conservation – at the Museum of Modern Art, Rhizome, and in private practice for collections all over the world. Come hear what is entailed in stewarding works of video, film, sound, software, light, performance, and more, through inevitable variability and change.

Ben Fino-Radin (BFA '07) is an art conservator and entrepreneur passionate about helping others solve complex challenges in preserving digital art and cultural heritage. As founder of Small data Industries, Ben has collaborated with artists, estates, museums, and private collections all over the world. Before establishing Small Data, Ben served as associate Media Conservator at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), where in addition to the conservation of time-based media art, they managed the design and development of the institution’s digital repository. Prior to this, Ben led preservation initiatives at Rhizome as their inaugural Digital Conservator.

While in residence at the Institute for Electronic Arts, Fino-Radin also gave the Wednesday Arts Speaker Series lecture on October 26

The Institute for Electronic Art’s Experimental Projects Residency is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, and the Schein-Joseph Endowment.