Abuja – The Executive Secretary of Enugu State Council for Arts and Culture, Mr Eddy Okolo, has said that conservation of contemporary art is the only way to keep Nigeria’s culture alive.
Okolo made this known in an interview with newsmen in Abuja.
He said Nigerian artists and stakeholders must make effort to upgrade and document their works in order to pass them on to the next generation.
“Artworks portray the way of life of any society, whether the work is theatrical, musical or literary, they all try to express our mind about our environment or culture.
“Stories of events that happened long ago can be told through art. These help to inform younger generations about their past,’’ he said.
According to him, Art conservation involves the study, practice and use of various techniques to sustain artworks with the aid of digital, biological, per formative and other variable media.
Okolo said these include photography, sculpture, installation art, video and Web-based art, among others.
He said conservators were committed to prolonging the physical life of these objects in the face of inevitable change.
The sculptor, however, said that such preservation equipment was not without shortfalls.
“The acquisition, conservation and storage of multimedia or digital art works using physical media equipment such as DVDs or computers have, however, also proven to be short term tactics.
“You know that the hardware can quickly become obsolete or even stale in storage.
“So, you need to constantly upgrade the format from an aged medium to a more current one such as from VHS to DVD or even blu-ray disc.
“The software needs to be updated periodically for the equipment to remain compatible with new technology,’’ he said.
Okolo said that stakeholders would continue research into better means and ways to conserve contemporary art in the country.
