The Silent Crisis of Magnetic Memory
What we’ve lost isn’t just a tape—it’s memory, identity, and the ability to hear who we were. PreservArt is a scientific endeavor to rescue our endangered sound heritage before it fades into silence.
A Catalyst for Preservation, Not a Substitute
Magnetic audio tapes, carrying invaluable cultural memory, are rapidly deteriorating. PreservArt addresses this urgent challenge by uniting materials science and heritage preservation. We develop new methods for understanding degradation, create tools for archiving, and train the next generation of preservation specialists. Our mission is to provide actionable knowledge to safeguard our collective sonic legacy.
"What we've lost isn't just a tape—it's memory, identity, and the ability to hear who we were."
Our mission is to provide actionable knowledge to safeguard the collective sonic legacy before it fades into silence.
Recent Developments
Comprehensive research strategies for protecting magnetic tape archives
Microbiological research
Next Event
Mapping microbial interactions that impact historical recordings
Practical tools
Recent News
Creating practical technologies to support audio archive conservation
Voices and Visions
A glimpse into the delicate process of restoring a historic audio recording at the LaPRA laboratory.
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Memories fade quietly
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Time erodes fragile recordings
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We listen to silence
The Silence of Unprotected Heritage
Our Four Core Objectives
PreservArt is structured around four interconnected objectives that guide our research and development.
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Our Four Core Objectives
PreservArt is structured around four interconnected objectives that guide our research and development.
See >
Our Four Core Objectives
PreservArt is structured around four interconnected objectives that guide our research and development.
See >
Explore Our Work
Access detailed records from 200 rolls of magnetic tape, scientific analyses, and digitized recordings on an intuitive and open platform.
Our Partners and Funders
