ART collectors are spending huge sums on colour photographs and videos that will fade away over the next 50 years, researchers say.

Scientists from Basle University say that thousands of photographic images and other media will deteriorate, losing their integrity as art objects. The researchers say: “We have been very alarmed by what we found,” they said. “Art and the cultural heritage of this century will be lost if nothing is done.”

They say that they want to warn public and private collectors that the instability of the photographic materials will eventually cause the imagery to disappear altogether. The situation is particularly serious because an increasing numbers of artists are choosing to work with colour photography and digital media.

Over the past 30 years Cindy Sherman, who is at present showing her provocative self-portraits at the Serpentine Gallery, and Andres Serrano, whose Cibachrome prints of fluids extracted from his body were at the Saatchi Gallery in 1991, are among artists who have transformed traditional photography and digital media techniques into fine art that sells for up to seven figures.

Claudio Cesar, an American collector, is setting up an international organisation dedicated to finding a long-term solution to conserving digital artworks. He said that institutions were burying their heads in the sand over the issue.

“Priceless photographic images are fading and deteriorating. Most museums have spent so many dollars in conservation and storage. Public money is going to be wasted.

“It is unthinkable that one of the most important art movements of our time has so little permanence . . . Colour photographs experience significant cyan dye-fading within 25 to 30 years. Unlike with a Rembrandt oil painting or an Italian fresco, there is nothing a conservator can do.”

He owns two images by Serrano, who is also collected by Charles Saatchi. Each print is now valued at $250,000 (£150,000), although he bought them for a fraction of that price in the early 1990s.

He said: “I can see the deterioration. These are just 12 years old. The yellow is deteriorating and going grey. It is in perfect storage conditions. I stand to lose millions of dollars.”

The scientists said that Bruce Nauman’s Self-portrait as a Fountain, which depicts a man spurting out water, shows the significant deterioration suffered since it was created in 1967. It shows the effects of light bleaching and a destruction of the magenta colourant, turning it a greenish tone. It will fade still further, their tests indicate.

Experts say that storage in controlled environments will only slow the rate of deterioration. Ultimately, the stored photographs will deteriorate as much as exposed works.

Philippe Garner, worldwide consultant for photographs to the auction house Phillips, de Pury & Luxembourg, said: “This is something that should be taken seriously. The starting point should be the practitioners themselves and museums and institutions that have the resources.”

The problem is relatively recent because colour photography was previously looked down on by most artists. Mr Garner explained: “There was a shift in attitude in the 1970s. People came round to accepting colour.

“Today, colour seems to have become the medium of choice. The time has certainly come for all those involved in the field to get better informed.

“Photographers, dealers and curators should assume some responsibility for investigating and working in the most stable techniques. There hasn’t been an awareness.”

The Basle scientific team included Lukas Rosenthaler, who specialises in the digital reconstruction of old films and movies. He said: “We produced a mathematical model of the chemical processes which lead to the fading of the colour. We can simulate how images will look in ten years, 50 years or 200 years.

“We have been very alarmed by what we found. It’s very dramatic. Art and the cultural heritage of this century will be lost if nothing is done.”

Russell Roberts, senior curator of photographs at the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television in Bradford, said: “I take a human view of it. These are mortal objects, subject to creasing, fading and deterioration.

“We can slow the process through preventative conservative, the right environmental controls, but we are fighting a losing battle.”

Sale room

Cindy Sherman: Untitled film still #48, sold 2001: $336,000
Andres Serrano: Piss Christ, sold 2000: $105,000
Bruce Nauman: Fox Wheel 1, 1989, sold 1993: $63,000

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