M.A.D.: Media Art Database(s) and the Challenges of Taste, Evaluation and Appraisal

This essay seeks to delineate the possible mutual benefits that different disciplines such as art history, media studies, computer science, etc. might derive from their specific efforts at formulating requirements and strategies for the appraisal of records and data as well as scientific and other concepts related to media art in its widest sense. In this context, the author presents the M.A.D. Media Art Database project as an information system at the disposal of media art and its history and theory, and as a network interface between archived material and knowledge. With its bottom-up structure, the M.A.D. database is proposed as a decisive motive force in assembling potent aggregates of knowledge and expertise.