Safeguarding Europe's media art heritage, together.
Connecting conservators, curators, researchers, artists and technologists to preserve Europe's media and born-digital art, before the technology that holds it disappears.
Flux, Candaş Şişman (2010). Courtesy of the artist.
Hard to define. Easy to recognise.
New here? Why media art needs saving →A glowing wave of sound and light; a circuit quietly corroding. Media art is vivid - and relies on short-lived technology to exist.
Zhang Peili, Eating, 1997
Three-channel video
Yves Netzhammer, Formales Gewissen, 2013
Digital video. Screenshot. HEK-Collection, on permanent loan from the Bundeskunstsammlung, Bern, 2017. © Yves Netzhammer.
Jürg Lehni, Four Transitions, 2020
Software-based installation with 4 different screen types. Installation view. HEK-collection. © Jürg Lehni.
Memo Akten & Katie Peyton Hofstadter, The Thinking Ocean, 2026
Generative installation
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News
Open calls, new publications, upcoming events, new recordings and resources. Everything new from the network, in one stream.
09 Sep 2026
14:00–16:30 CEST
Event
Online Training School. Current media art conservation practices across European regions
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All news
Why now
Two timelines, converging.
Media art collections face an acute preservation crisis, just as the discipline finally has the expertise to act. EMBARK connects innovative research with needs in heritage practice across Europe.
Five Working Groups
Each tackles one strategic challenge in media art conservation. Outputs feed a shared, openly accessible knowledge base.
Working Group 1
Networks of Expertise and Infrastructure
Mapping European media art conservation networks, processes, tools and shared needs for artists, institutions and practitioners.
70 members
Open WG1
Working Group 2
Software-based Art and Ownership
This WG examines the collection, preservation and ownership of software-based artworks with complex dependencies, ranging from 1990s online art to current blockchain-based artworks.
57 members
Open WG2
Working Group 3
How can AI support the conservation and stewardship of digital media art?
WG3 investigates the responsible use of AI in media art conservation, addressing opportunities, challenges, as well as ethical and legal implications.
59 members
Open WG3
Working Group 4
Shared Systems of Documentation and Knowledge Management
Exploring shared documentation standards and dynamic, wiki-based approaches of knowledge sharing across European borders.
71 members
Open WG4
Working Group 5
Sustainability and the Preservation of Media Artworks
How to be a good ancestor? Thoughts on the environmental and economic impact of current media conservation and digital preservation practices.
60 members
Open WG5
The network, at a glance.
187
Action members
77
Young Researchers & Innovators
35
Member countries
19
Inclusiveness Target Countries
Engage
Join the network.
EMBARK welcomes researchers, heritage practitioners, and technologists from all COST member countries and beyond. Select your EMBARK Working Group(s) and apply!