According to Mitchel Hearns Bishop the ''heart' of the work are the essential aesthetic and technological elements that absolutely need to be preserved if the piece is to retain any integrity in the future. An abstract, ideal, or Platonic conception of the piece is the heart of the work, and a faithful physical manifestation is the form it should take."[W]e have to think of the 'heart' of the work as a portfolio of intellectual descriptions in various forms - text, graphic, and audio documentation, [so that] these can be migrated into viable formats that will enable people to re-create the installation in the future in a form the artist would recognize and accept.''
Bishop, 2001, p. 185
Because of the performance aspects of many installations, conservtors working with this medium will need to look beyond the material and consider that the 'heart' of a work might lie primarily in its less-tangible qualities. Preserving for the future something that is above all an experience might require conservators to take a more fluid view of what may or may not be changed about a work, challenging conventional notions of accuracy and authenticity.
Real, 2001, p. 226
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