The sculptures [by Cy Twombly in the National Gallery Washington, ed.] were installed in close collaboration by the artist. [T]he presence of the artist at the installation lent to the proceedings the urgent imperative of authenticity (…)
Weiss, 2005, p. 41
Apart from the artist studio there is, of course, no 'authentic' setting for Twombly's sculptures - only multiple settings, some more viable than others and each representing an interprative frame.
Weiss, 2005, p. 42
Time-based media installations exist somewhere on the ontological continuum between performance and sculpture. They are similar to works that are performed, in that they belong to that class of works of art, which are created in a two-stage process. They share this feature with western notated music where what you experience is the performance. Similarly, in the case of a time-based media installation, the work must be experienced as an installed event, which again has certain parallels with a performance. [T]ime-based media installations [...] allow, as part of their identity, the possibility of a bigger gap between what the artist can specify and the realisation of the work, than in the case of a sculpture or painting. [...] Authenticity in this context means an obligation on the museum or custodian to faithfully realise those aspects of the work which are important to its meaning. [...] Just as two authentic performances can differ, so too can two authentic installations.
Laurenson, Lecture 2006
As with musical performances, a particular installation of a time-based media work that fails to be authentic does not prelude the possibility of an authentic installation in the future. The role of the conservator is to understand what might constitute an authentic installation and to work to make such an installation possible.
Laurenson, 2004, p. 49
Buskirk writes that with traditional fine art objects material evidence is sought for authenticity, demonstrating the hand of the artist. ‘By employing methods of industrial fabrication, Judd [and other artists associated with minimalism] were able to remove a typical mark of artistic authorship, the evidence of the artist’s hand. This could also be seen as elimination of significant component of aesthetic quality and content for a more traditional work of art.’ With the demise of the evidence of the hand of the artist, these artists have found other means by which to maintain authority and control over their works, like the use of certificates and editioning. (p)
Buskirk, 2003
A generation of curators and spectators that loved and understood the works by [Nam June] Paik will die out and mediation of his works will no longer be self-evident […] These works' potentialities will only be kept alive if they can raise the spectator's curiosity not because of their reference contents but on the basis of their authentic materiality. [...] By implication some things will fall by the wayside. (t)
Gfeller, 2004, p. 222-23
The restoration theory oriented towards the traditional work of art assumes that authentic condition also requires authenticity of material and workmanship - at least to an overwhelming extent. This assumption has not only educated restorers to respectful treatment of the original and taught them to as far as possible conserve the parts as well as the whole, it has at the same time, as it were, also fetishised the material-technical side of the work of art. A look at the mushroom detail of Thomas Hirschhorn’s Doppelgarage reveals that this paradigm can hardly be fulfilled in some installation art works. That contemporary art, including installation art, has given rise to new original concepts is a commonplace of more recent art history. Here Joseph Beuys's 'extended art concept' should be mentioned representatively for others because not least it has also substantially influenced the development of installation art. For restoration this development means the loss of an elementary reference value. It may approximately be in keeping with the processual character of installation art to aim to give 'the observer as authentic an aesthetic experience as possible' instead of as authentic an art object as possible. To give the recipient a sufficient possibility of experience or to make it possible over and over again, correctly understood 'fidelity to the work' is required. The fidelity to the work does not make interpretation superfluous but rather can give rise to a wide range of valid interpretations as can be seen from the sister arts music and theatre and from the re-installation of installation art. It is not easy to judge its success or failure, as the result is no longer an object but a reception, which naturally takes on subjective features and can only be reinterpreted by a process of critical filtration to the reception of an 'abstract, philosophical model of a subject', as Claire Bishop names the recipient.
Weyer, 2006, p. 44
Conversely, in the field of fine arts there is a strong ethic of authenticity, originality and historical accuracy that does not fit well with the ephemeral nature of installation art. In all but extreme cases, the original object is sacrosanct; fascimiles are taboo. By contrast, in a re-created installation, nothing 'original' may survive through time: the architecture, lighting, projection surfaces, props, electronic components, and even the media bearing the image and sound may all be replacements or copies or approximations (q). It is unlikely, given the pace of technological evolution and obsolescence, that future audiences will have the same kind of 'authentic' experience of a work of media art that audiences today might enjoy in a performance of Bach on a 17-th century harpsichord (although there are other less tangible elements of an 'authentic' musical performance beyond the particular instrument used). On the other hand, it is conceivable that in the future there will be access to museums or repositories of 'period' playback equipment and media that could be deployed in a reconstituted installation to evoke the particular historic era in which the installation was first created.
Real, 2001, p. 216
