Previously Unknown Warhol Works Recovered From '80s Amiga Disks

First time accepted submitter mooterSkooter (1132489) writes "Magnetic Imaging tools were used to recover a dozen images produced by Andy Warhol on his Amiga computer. I would've just stuck the disks in and tried to copy it myself." Read more about it from the Frank Ratchye Studio for Creative Inquiry, which says "The impetus for the investigation came when [artist Cory] Arcangel, a self-described “Warhol fanatic and lifelong computer nerd,” learned about Warhol’s Amiga experiments from the YouTube video of the 1985 Commodore Amiga product launch. Acting on a hunch, and with the support of CMOA curator Tina Kukielski, Arcangel approached the AWM in December 2011 regarding the possibility of restoring the Amiga hardware in the museum’s possession, and cataloging any files on its associated diskettes. In April 2012, he contacted Golan Levin, a CMU art professor and director of the FRSCI, a laboratory that supports “atypical, anti-disciplinary and inter-institutional” arts research. Offering a grant to support the investigation, Levin connected Cory with the CMU Computer Club, a student organization that had gained renown for its expertise in “retrocomputing,” or the restoration of vintage computers."

Comments

Re:1985

[Galaga88]

They introduced a new feature in 2015 that allows broadcasts to be sent back in time.

However, due to a lightning strike, it got stuck on 1885 after sending only a few videos back to 1955.

Amiga Floppies

[tekrat]

They could have just used the disk drive. 99% of my Amiga floppies still work just fine.

The Amiga 1000 was a surprisingly durable machine, and frankly, Commodore, despite anything you could say about them making "toy" computers at a target price used very high quality components.

A modern PC's power supply will burn out long before a 25-yr old Commodore power supply will.

Re:Amiga Floppies

[Kl00dge]

You apparently never had to put your C64 power supply in the refrigerator.

Re:Amiga Floppies

[bws111]

I hope your not an archeologist or forensics expert. The first thing to be concerned about, when dealing with a one-of-a-kind artifact, is to minimize any POSSIBLE (not probable) damage. There is a non-zero probability that using a disk drive could cause damage. There is less of a possibility that magnetic imaging would cause damage.

Plastic "art"

[hessian]

The Amiga and its demo scene were more art than Warhol ever will be.

His commentary on crass commercialism basically became crass commercialism itself. Why shouldn't it? It was the same basic idea.

As a wise man once said, "He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss the abyss also gazes into you."

Re:Plastic "art"

[CastrTroy]

From looking at the "art" it looks to have little artistic value. Warhol didn't have any particular skills in computer art, and the software was quite limited in what you could do at that time. It's nothing that anybody else messing around with the same program couldn't have produced. Just because Warhol is a notable artist, does not mean that every piece of art he produced is worthy of our attention. Some people are great authors, but that doesn't mean their shopping lists or twitter posts, are literary works to be cherished.

Re:Plastic "art"

[TangoMargarine]

Your uneducated opinion of art is as bad as an art historian's knowledge of quantum physics, which is somewhere between "very little" and "absolutely none".

Except for the tiny fact that art is wholly subjective and quantum physics is wholly objective, sure.

Editorializing

[Nimey]

I would've just stuck the disks in and tried to copy it myself.

Possibly that's because you're an idiot. Floppies and drives degrade just like everything else and taking these extraordinary measures gives a better chance of not permanently damaging something priceless during recovery attempts.

Re:Editorializing

[Nimey]

but if the disk was properly stored and was of a good brand

If.

This is pretty typical of Slashdot, really: technical people with some education second-guessing people who do $THING for a living even though they don't have the same knowledge of the field or the circumstances, but by $DEITY they're smart people and they know things, so they're instantly armchair experts.

Re:Editorializing

[Rob the Bold]

If.

This is pretty typical of Slashdot, really: technical people with some education second-guessing people who do $THING for a living even though they don't have the same knowledge of the field or the circumstances, but by $DEITY they're smart people and they know things, so they're instantly armchair experts.

This isn't limited to the technical community. Doctors are pretty bad about this too. Particularly in regard to the field of finance: some of them should practically hang out a "Scam Me" sign. I'm sure there are "Modern Major Generals" in almost any field who feel -- incorrectly -- their own expertise and success in one field should make equally competent in anything.

Re:1985

[Richy_T]

That long ago? It was probably called YeTube.

Editors please do your job

[cdrudge]

CMOA? AWM? CMU? FRSCI? Identifying what an acronym stands for is very helpful when the acronym isn't very well known. Yes I know I can read the article and try to find it out, but it's helpful for summaries too.

In case anyone else was wondering:
CMOA - Carnegie Museum of Art
AWM - Andy Warhol Museum
CMU - Carnegie Mellon University
FRSCI - Frank-Ratchye STUDIO for Creative Inquiry

What not to do

[Rob the Bold]

You've just found an undiscovered work by Andy Warhol. Do you want to:

1. Wipe it down with Pledge(TM)?

2. Call an appropriate professional for advice?

Because I'm pretty sure that . . . "I would've just stuck the disks in and tried to copy it myself" . . . is the physical artifact equivalent of using some randomly chosen household cleaner. And museum curators are pretty anal about curation of their stuff.

Also, for the love of God, do not use "DiskDoctor"!

Reverse engineer the format???

[LWATCDR]

Odds are very high that they where IFF. Commodore created a universal documented format container called IFF back in the day. The Graphics version was completely documented and is evens still supported by a lot of graphics programs.

Well, there goes ...

[PPH]

... his 6.44E9 CPU cycles of fame.