Summit on New Media Art Archiving (SNMAA)

© NMAALast updated: March 28, 2026

SNMAA Summit*

Field: Media Art & Art—Science—Technology (MA/AST)

Summit on New Media Art Archiving (SNMAA) is an international, collaborative initiative involving the following archive partners:  → ISEA Symposium Archives,  → ACM SIGGRAPH History Archive,  → Archive of Digital Art (ADA),  → Ars Electronica Archive,  → FILE Archive,  → ZKM | Archives,  MEMODUCT posthuman.archive, and a number of research institutions that focus on new media archiving. This dedicated group aims to connect archives around the globe and enhance the archiving and preservation efforts of new media art.

The need to preserve the history of the rapidly evolving field of media arts has stimulated the development of a wide variety of archives around the world. Many museums, organisations, institutions and individuals with collections have developed physical and/or online archives in an effort to preserve important artefacts and document events and artworks. The field of digital and electronic art has expanded to include objects and experiences that challenge historical archival practices. Ever-evolving technological standards require a constant examination of what it means to preserve and document works that defy contemporary archival practices. In an effort to preserve new media artworks and make them accessible to future generations, we must constantly adapt to new means of consuming, disseminating, evaluating and preserving information.

The Summit started with an ISEA roundtable discussion on new media archiving at ISEA2018 in Durban, South Africa followed by a very well-attended roundtable at ISEA2019 in Gwangju, South Korea. Since 2020, the Summit on New Media Art Archiving has brought together archivists, artists, scholars, curators, and technologists from around the world to address current challenges and emerging strategies in the documentation, preservation, and dissemination of media art. In response to rapidly evolving digital and electronic art practices, the Summit focuses on innovative archival approaches, new technologies, interdisciplinary and cross-cultural perspectives.

The texts on this page are extracted from the NMAA communication material (SNMAA).
5th SNMAA
© ISEA2025 | SNMAA

The Fifth Summit on New Media Art Archiving was held during ISEA2025 in Seoul, on 24-26 June 2024. The Summit addressed issues related to online or physical archival practices, methodologies, challenges, opportunities, or technical advances in digital, electronic, or new media art archiving. The main topics included: i) New directions in online archiving; ii) The challenges of physical archives; iii) New technologies for archiving; iv) Information exchange between archives. At the Summit, the presentations of papers and panels were organised in the following clusters: Interconnections and Sound, AI & New Tools in Archiving, Archive Presentations, New Media Art Reincarnation, Digital Heritage, Connecting Archives, and Archive Presentations (short lightning talks).

The 5th SNMAA was organised as a Special Track on Digital Heritage of ISEA2025 in partnership with ISEA Symposium Archives, ACM SIGGRAPH History Archive, Archive of Digital Art (ADA), Ars Electronica Archive, FILE Archives, ZKM Archives, and MEMODUCT Posthuman Archive.

→  Programme - 26 May | PDF →  Programme - 27 May | PDF
4th SNMAA
© ISEA2024 | SNMAA

The Fourth Summit on New Media Art Archiving was held during ISEA2024 in Brisbane on 24-26 June 2024. In addition to the permanent topics “Making the Summit a sustainable event” and “Ideas and proposals to help the Connecting Archives project”, the Summit focused on ISEA2024 sub themes in relation to archiving, such as: ‘culturally safe virtual spaces’, ‘machine learning as a co-creator’, ‘transmedia storytelling’, ‘digital museology, cultural heritage and archaeological reconstruction’ and ‘all modes of augmented, mixed, extended and virtual realities from interactive digital worlds to metaverse’.

The 4th SNMAA was organised by ISEA2024 in partnership with ISEA Symposium Archives, Archive of Digital Art (ADA), Archive for the Histories of Media Art, ZKM archives, SIGGRAPH History Archive, FILE Archives, MEMODUCT posthuman.archive and ISEA International, and was endorsed by Ars Electronica Archive. The Summit was an integral section of ISEA2024 Brisbane, the 29th International Symposium on Electronic Art.

→  Call for Proposals | PDF →  Programme | PDF
3rd SNMAA
© ISEA2023 | SNMAA

The Third Summit on New Media Art Archiving was held during ISEA2023 in Paris, on 19-20 May 2023. The Summit had three main themes: Symbiosis, Sustainability & Progress. These themes were operationalised by inviting paper and panel proposals on the following topics: i) Building on the results of Summit 1 & 2; ii) Making the Summit a sustainable event; iii) Ideas and proposals to help the Connecting Archives project; iv) New Media Art Archive presentations. The Summit welcomed proposals that built on the prominent topics of previous summits, specifically: Museums and the integration of Digital Arts; Communication and Coordination among Archivists; Cooperation among Museums and New Media Art Archives; Developing and Maintaining Physical Archives; New Directions in Online Archiving; New Technologies for Archiving (AI, VR/AR, Graph databases, other); Individual Artists & Archiving; and Ethics in Archiving.

The 3rd SNMAA was organised by the archivists of ISEA in co-operation with archivists of SIGGRAPH History Archive, Ars Electronica Archive, Archive of Digital Art (ADA), ZKM Archives, FILE Archive, Media Art History, and MEMODUCT posthuman.archive. The Summit was supported by ISEA2023 Paris, ISEA International, the SIGGRAPH Digital Arts Community, the Creative Industries Fund NL, and via individual mobility scheme Culture Moves Europe.

→  Call for Proposals | PDF →  Proceedings | PDF
2nd SNMAA
© ISEA2022 | SNMAA

The Second Summit on New Media Art Archiving was held during ISEA2022 in Barcelona, on 10-11 June 2022. The Summit themed archiving of physical artifacts, digitizing museum collections, innovative approaches to archiving, and gave emphasis on connecting new media art archives worldwide. The 2nd SNMAA facilitated critical discourse and collaboration amongst archivists, curators, artists, researchers, and other parties interested in preserving the past. It served as an incubator of innovative ideas, production techniques, and infrastructure development as well as assisting in connecting like-minded individuals in an effort to create a unified approach to solving the complex problem of preserving the history of new media art.

The 2nd SNMAA was organised by ISEA2022 Barcelona, ISEA Symposium Archives, and SIGGRAPH History Archive and in cooperation with the Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art-MACBA, FILE Archive, Archive of Digital Art (ADA) and Ars Electronica Archive.

→  Programme | PDF
1st SNMAA
© ISEA2020

The First Summit on New Media Art Archiving was held online from Montreal (during COVID) within the framework of ISEA2020, on 16th October 2020. The 1-day event featured a keynote lecture, paper presentations, and break-out sessions. The first 5 hours included the 16 prerecorded video presentations and 5 q&a live sessions. The last 3 hours went live as the 3 parallel break-out sessions and the plenary concluding session. Around 100 people participated in the event which made the First Summit on New Media Art Archiving a great success.

The 1st SNMAA was organised by the archives of ISEA, ADA, Ars Electronica, and SIGGRAPH, with the support of ISEA2020 Montreal.

→  Programme | PDF