Conservation Of Contemporary Art Research Articles

Conserving Performance, Performing Conservation: Kim Kardashian x Marilyn Monroe

ABSTRACT After May 2, 2022, heritage conservation briefly became a hot topic in the world of celebrity gossip. That evening, Kim Kardashian, a reality TV star and entrepreneur, wore a 60-year-old dress that had belonged to Marilyn Monroe to the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s annual Costume Institute Gala. In wearing Monroe’s dress, Kardashian sought to channel the glamor and celebrity of the mid-century star. She also summoned the ire of museum professionals, who considered her choice to wear a fragile historical garment a flagrant violation of conservation ethics. Yet increasingly, the discipline of conservation has come to recognize that an object’s ‘integrity’ does not rest solely in its physical materials – and the emerging discourse of performance conservation, informed by research into the conservation of contemporary art as well as intangible cultural heritage, emphasizes the active lives of what I call ‘performative objects’ over their physical form and static appearance. Here, I posit that Kardashian’s wearing of Monroe’s dress may be understood as a form of conservation – perhaps not of the dress itself, but of the performance of which that dress was an integral part, and without which, I argue, the dress has little significance. To make this argument, I will also draw on innovative approaches to the conservation of Indigenous heritage that recognize the preservation value of reanimating objects from the past. Establishing Monroe’s dress as a ‘performative object,’ an item inextricably linked to the body in motion, I endeavor to show how performance itself preserves the past.

30 years of Conserving the Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art

This paper is the result of a collaborative effort that investigates the practice of contemporary art conservation at the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA) Brisbane. Our research has been shaped by our active participation in the Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (APT) over the past three decades. Through interviews with QAGOMA conservators and gallery colleagues, we have identified the influences of the APT on our workflows. These influences have led to the emergence of areas of challenge, such as the logistics of artwork shipping, integrated pest management, collaboration with artists, preparation of artworks for display, considerations of scale, complexities of conserving contemporary art, and the evolution of documentation systems. The lessons learned from these challenges, as illustrated through case studies, provide valuable reference to other practitioners caring for contemporary artworks.

Scientific Investigation of Contemporary Pastel Painting by Roberto Sebastian Matta: Characterization of Original Materials through Multispectral Imaging and Spectroscopic Techniques

The conservation of contemporary art often offers unique occasions to study complex multi-material artworks and understand their creative process and esteem degradation distress. The recent diagnostic campaign on the surrealist artwork Perché le vittime vincano (For the victims to win) (1974–75) by the artist Roberto Sebastian Matta allowed us to characterize the original painting materials (pastels on spolvero paper), never investigated and completely unknown, in order to support the imminent restoration. Due to the great dimensions of the artwork and its conservative issues, non-invasive multispectral imaging (HMI) analyses were done to investigate the whole painted surface, mapping and differentiating original materials and possible degradation patterns. Imaging data supported analytical characterization analyses run through elemental (portable X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy-dispersive spectroscopy) and molecular spectroscopy (Fourier transform infrared and portable µ-Raman spectroscopy) to identify the original artist’s materials and to support the restoration operations. The analysis revealed that the painting materials used by Matta are pastels characterized by modern pigments and dyes, such as Cu-phthalocyanines, chrome orange, titanium and zinc whites, compacted with kaolin without any organic binder or with a possible minuscule amount of gum.

Theoretical issues in the conservation of contemporary art: on paradigms, ontological and constitutive elements in some practical cases

This article provides an approach to some of the theoretical concepts necessary to deal with the conservation and restoration of contemporary art. In this sense, the status of four contemporary works after their restoration, or simply due to the passage of time, has been analysed in depth and from a theoretical point of view. The works chosen were made of chocolate; plastics such as latex, acrylic resins and epoxy; organic materials such as blood; liturgical fabrics; butterfly wings; natural flowers... all materials that degrade due to the natural passage of time and the effect of the agents of deterioration. The interesting thing about the work is that it establishes the need to situate each work of contemporary art in an appropriate paradigm before proposing a process of intervention. To do this, it is necessary to carry out a study of the constituent elements of the artworks, both material and immaterial. Furthermore, the study presents the different intervention processes carried out. Finally, we study how the state of conservation may have affected the consistency of the artwork, taking into account the artistic intention.

Frontier/Fountain/River Mouth: conservation of contemporary art in the public space

RESUMO Fronteira/Fonte/Foz, de 2001, é uma obra da artista Carmela Gross localizada em Laguna, Santa Catarina, cidade que tem um núcleo histórico tombado na esfera federal, e que passou por reforma em 2019. Embora não exista um elemento escultórico, a obra se destaca na paisagem pelo vazio que cria: é o chão. Pensar no chão como elemento base e relevante na produção artística-urbanística nos leva também a pensar nos fundamentos teóricos necessários para uma correta abordagem dos problemas inerentes ao restauro, seja da arte, da arquitetura ou mesmo em escala urbana. O artigo busca refletir sobre a preservação dessa obra, e como pode colaborar para pensar outros elementos da paisagem em que se insere e conforma. O restauro, por definição, tem início com o reconhecimento que se faz de determinada obra. O percurso da análise é composto, primeiro, por uma introdução a Fronteira/Fonte/Foz. Em segundo lugar, faz-se a retomada de duas exposições da artista, que nos informam sobre aspectos relevantes para pensar sua preservação. Em terceiro, analisa-se os motivos que levaram às obras de restauro da praça em 2019 e a discussão sobre as intervenções realizadas naquele espaço. Finalmente, o artigo chama atenção para que essas questões sejam debatidas em campo próprio, cujo nome é “restauro”, independente do grau de intervenção, sinalizando alternativas para uma abordagem projetual mais responsável. O texto é construído a partir de fontes bibliográficas, documentais e da interlocução direta com envolvidos, além de visitas à referida obra.

Double Trouble: Replicas in Contemporary Art and Their Impact in Conservation Decision-making

ABSTRACT Contemporary art conservation is constantly facing challenges relating to materials of poor stability that artists incorporate in their practice, the obsolescence of technological elements within artworks, as well as the multitude of ethical issues that these artworks raise. With the conceptual aspect of artworks often being given emphasis, questions about what values exist within the context and content of the artwork, its universe, is becoming critically important. These questions have become even more complicated since the introduction of replicas created with the use of digital reproduction tools; 3D scanning, 3D printing, digital image capturing and reproduction, and wiki-style documentation methods. Using philosophical frameworks, an attempt is being made to clarify what form replicas of contemporary artworks can take and what conservators should be aware of. The analysis of the values associated with these replicas is illustrated by three case studies; street art, a time-based media artwork, and the work of an artist who specialises in 3D assisted creations. The influence of replicas of contemporary artworks in the decision-making process through their values and interaction with the original amplifies the conservator’s feeling of responsibility.

A theoretical comparison between the restoration of two contemporary works of art made of plastic

• The research has theoretically compared the restoration of two artworks made of polymeric material, determining their ontological status after the intervention. • It is necessary the hierarchization of the constituent elements of the entity, which can be both material and immaterial. • The conservation-restoration of contemporary artworks requires the study of the conceptual, biographical and material planes in each case. • The conservator has become, in the case of contemporary art, a facilitator of the experimentation of the entity and must know where the substantial lies and where the accessory lies in the artwork. • Decision-making must be based on knowledge of the relative importance of the different constituents of the artwork. The article describes the intervention processes carried out on two contemporary artworks and analyzing them from a theoretical point of view. The first work of art, Silere , is an ink transfer on a moulded polymeric material. The second artwork is entitled Pasos en Falso , and consists of an installation that includes a pair of shoes made by the artist, layer by layer, with vinylic latex. The laces of these shoes are made from human hair. For each of the cases, a description is given of the material plane of the artwork, a description of its conceptual plane and a description of its biographical plane. It then discusses the paradigm in which each of them should be placed, and provides a hierarchy of their constituent elements, both in the material and immaterial planes. Finally, the discrepant factors that have determined the decision-making process are discussed. The study focuses not on the description of the intervention processes carried out, although these have been described for later discussion, but on the theoretical analysis that helps to understand the decision-making process, a decision-making process that is specific to each case. And this, applying the most advanced theoretical concepts on which the theory for the conservation of contemporary art is currently based, which have made it possible to compare the two interventions. In addition, the artworks that serve as examples are particularly interesting, as they have been made with polymeric materials, which, at the time of our intervention, were in a very poor condition.

Towards Sustainable Museum Conservation Practices: A Study on the Surface Cleaning of Contemporary Art and Design Objects with the Use of Biodegradable Agents

Green contemporary art conservation cleaning methods are explored as sustainable museum practices, ensuring the conservator’s health and reducing the environmental impact. The performance of selected biodegradable cleaning agents, namely deionised (DI) water, a chelate based on trisodium salt of methylglycinediacetic acid (MGDA), Trilon® M, a non-ionic surfactant based on alkoxylated fatty alcohols (Plurafac® LF900), and two solvents, limonene and ethyl lactate, was evaluated for the surface cleaning of polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), polylactic acid (PLA), polypropylene (PP), and plasticized polyvinyl chloride (pPVC). Plastic mockups were used untreated or artificially soiled, simulating particulate matter or sebum stains produced by handling. Furthermore, the efficacy of ink removal from the plastic’s surface was evaluated. Surface examination was carried out using optical microscopy (OM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and atomic force microscopy (AFM), while μ-Raman and gloss measurements complemented the cleaning assessment methodology. The cleaning agents’ potency depends on the type of plastic, precluding a general cleaning protocol. However, their cleaning efficacy is very promising, enriching the available choices for the cleaning of plastics, using sustainable materials and practices. This study offers valuable information to the conservation field regarding the effects of the selected biodegradable cleaning agents on each type of plastic, their application method, and their cleaning efficacy for the removal of different types of soil and ink.

Practitioner (In)visibility in the Conservation of Contemporary Art

ABSTRACT This article explores the role and position of the conservator of contemporary art and proposes the concept of invisibility as a way of thinking about ideas and practices of authorship, agency, and knowledge in the field of conservation. The invisibility of the practitioner is a concept drawn from the field of translation, and the work of translation theorist Lawrence Venuti. Venuti describes the translator’s traditional position of invisibility, exploring how it manifests both in relation to the translated text, as well as in wider epistemic, professional, and social senses. Sparked by Venuti’s 1995 book The Translator’s Invisibility: A History of Translation, invisibility has been the subject of significant study and debate in translation and can also be identified as a common concern across several disciplines. This article explores how the concept of invisibility applies to the conservator of contemporary art, and its effect in respect of understandings of the work, the nature of conservation practice, and the recognition of practitioner knowledge.

Supporting Decision-Making when Conserving Contemporary Art: A Model for Identification and Categorization of Stakeholders

ABSTRACT Authenticity in flux and value-led approaches are crucial elements in the conservation of contemporary art. Both depend on stakeholders: those involved in the artwork's historiography, who can promote value attribution and knowledge production towards the works, and those who could be affected by the conservation process. Identifying relevant stakeholders for contemporary art conservation becomes an imperative. This article introduces a model for identifying and categorizing relevant stakeholders for contemporary art conservation and preservation and attempts to support questions such as: Who are the stakeholders involved in the conservation process? What should be their involvement? How do they impact the conservation process? Who should identify them? How could it be done? In the suggested model, identification of relevant stakeholders is led by (1) the conservator as an analyst or an agent of change and (2) by a set of twelve “boundary questions” used to provoke and define situational framings. The categorization of relevant stakeholders is presented according to (1) their nature (human and non-human) and (2) their relevance and impact on/from the conservation and presentation process. Thereby, four groups of stakeholders are identified: human actors actively involved, human actors passively involved, non-human actors actively involved, and non-human actors passively involved.

Introduction to the Special Issue on Contemporary Art Conservation

The American Institute for Conservation (AIC)’s Contemporary Art Network, or CAN!, aims to embrace and explore the influence by and the influences on the conservator in our daily practice. The arti...

A Revised Model for Decision-Making in Contemporary Art Conservation and Presentation

ABSTRACT In response to contemporary art forms and related conservation and presentation challenges, a research initiative at Cologne Institute of Conservation Sciences reconsidered the renowned Decision-Making Model for the Conservation and Restoration of Modern and Contemporary Art. Since its publication in 1999, the model has served as a valuable tool for navigating through complex problems in modern and contemporary art conservation. Nevertheless, within the last decades, a need for revision has been revealed. To provide an updated guidance for conservation and presentation decisions, a multi-disciplinary working group re-evaluated the model within the context of recent research results and case studies, thereby considering: (1) the starting point in the individual case, (2) the often complex biographies of artworks, (3) the dynamics in decision-making, and (4) the juxtaposition of the current and desired state of an artwork to include decisions regarding preventive conservation and the presentation of ephemeral or inherently evolving artworks. Fish Flies on Sky (1985/95), a video installation by Nam June Paik, serves as an example to illustrate the different steps of the model. The research initiative was organized by Cologne Institute of Conservation Sciences, the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands, and Maastricht University.

The Submerged Part of the Iceberg

"The Submerged Part of the Iceberg." Museum International, 73(1-2), p. iv Additional informationNotes on contributorsYaël KreplakYaël Kreplak is a sociologist and researcher associated with EHESS (CEMS) and the University of Paris (CERLIS). Based on ethnographies carried out in museum institutions, her research develops a pragmatic approach to art, attentive to the processes of publicising works and rooted in the description of concrete practices of exhibition, conservation, restoration, documentation and storage. She directs the project ‘Storage in Parisian museums: investigating the infrastructure of art and heritage conservation’, and is a laureate of the Émergence(s) programme of the City of Paris (2019-2022). She is currently writing a book on the conservation of contemporary art at the Centre Pompidou.François MairesseFrançois Mairesse is a museologist and professor of cultural economics who holds the UNESCO Chair on the study of museum diversity and its evolution, Museum Prospect, at the Université Sorbonne Nouvelle - Paris 3 (CERLIS, CNRS, labex ICCA). He also teaches museology at the École du Louvre. He previously directed the Musée royal de Mariemont in Belgium (from 2002 to 2010) and chaired the International Committee of Museology of ICOM (ICOFOM). He has published numerous articles and books in the fields of museology, cultural economics and cultural mediation.

Detection of bronze paint degradation products in a contemporary artwork by combined non-invasive and micro-destructive approach

Conservation of contemporary art requires deep knowledge of techniques and materials used, in order to assess their decay rate and identify the proper way to preserve art objects; scientific investigations are thus fundamental for conservation purposes. This paper presents a multi-analytical approach based on the use of both non-invasive and micro-destructive techniques for the study of a contemporary artwork from the Italian artist Paola Levi-Montalcini. Object of this work is Nel Deserto, made in 1966 using several different modern materials. The mixed-media nature of the artwork required a complete characterization of the materials, preliminary to the challenging conservation intervention. Before the intervention, Nel Deserto was in fact showing severe signs of degradation, which prevented it from being exposed to the public. The analytical approach was based on the preliminary use of portable microscopy and XRF, followed by micro-FTIR on diamond cell and low-pressure SEM-EDS and allowed achieving fundamental information on the materials while not harming visibly the artwork. The interaction between a transparent film (made of a poly(vinyl chloride) copolymer) and a bronze-based paint, triggered untypical degradation phenomena. The loss of hydrochloric acid from the chlorine containing polymer led in fact to the formation of dark green colored copper halides, which irremediably altered the artwork.

A simple multi-analytical approach for the detection of oxidative and biological degradation of polymers in contemporary artworks

Conservation of contemporary art can be a particularly hard task due to the numerous different techniques and materials adopted by artists worldwide. Due to sampling restriction it is particularly difficult to deeply study the decay mechanism and develop new strategies for their protection. This paper presents results obtained applying a fast and reliable analytical approach to the study of the materials used in Teca con Frutta, by Massimo Zuppelli. The artwork, made in 1967, is a typical example of Arte Povera, realized using materials particularly prone to fast degradation. The choice of accessible and fast analytical techniques such as optical microscopy, micro Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy (micro-FTIR), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy dispersive spectroscopy (SEM-EDS) allowed to easily recognize the materials used by the artist as low-density polyethylene spray painted with nitrocellulose and alkyd resin based products. Furthermore, this paper shows how this simple analytical approach made possible to assess the presence of oxidative and biological degradation, which normally require expensive and complicated techniques. These results stress how the application of complementary techniques, associated in a manageable methodology, can provide information of invaluable utility for the study of multi-materials contemporary artworks.

Some Theory for the Conservation of Contemporary Art

ABSTRACT This article analyzes different ontological categories and how they relate to the conservation of contemporary art. Faced with the necessity of apprehending the work of art from an ontological point of view, a theoretical approach is made on the concepts that most affect the conservation of contemporary art: quiddity, truth-authenticity, identity, quality, consistency, and interpretation. These are analyzed from an empirical perspective, based on the experience of conservation and restoration. Since conserving and restoring require making decisions that will affect the material and conceptual plane of the works, several possible paradigms that must be introduced into the deontological code of the profession are analyzed. In addition, the study of a new paradigm is provided, that of the death of the work of art. This paradigm can serve as a frame of reference, given the impossibility of bringing the ‘Truth’ of the artwork into the world of the sensitive. This may occur due to different conditioning factors and limitations of a material, technical, or intentional type, which affect issues that were once established as essential to the entity. On the other hand, different types of time that are related to the conservation of contemporary art are studied: biological time, the eternal present of the work, time as a constructor agent, and destructive time as a facilitator of the appearance of ruin or ruin-relic in the work of art.

Collaboration with Stakeholders for Conservation of Contemporary Art

It is difficult to predict the kinds of damage to contemporary art because of the diversity of materials and experimental techniques used. This makes it hard to conserve. Furthermore, the artist’s intention in contemporary art is emerging as one of the important issues to be handled in conservation treatment. Thus, collaboration with various stakeholders such as the artists themselves, bereaved family members, and foundations have become more important than ever from the viewpoint of planning conservation treatment. The trustworthiness of conservation treatment would be significantly enhanced if conservation treatment reflected the understanding and respect of not only the appearance of the work, but also the social/cultural context inherent in the work. This should be done, in particular, through collaboration with the artists. In this study, various case studies at home and abroad were analyzed as to explore collaboration methods with various stakeholders for objective and trustworthy conservation treatment. Along the way, the study raised the need to establish new conservation ethics for contemporary art. It is expected that the outcomes of the study could be used as basic material to preserve the originality of contemporary artwork and to set the direction for conservation practice.

Physical object or variable, flexible, ephemeral and reproducible: the management and care of contemporary art collections in 2020

This paper reflects on the central role that the idea of the artwork as a physical object has had on the development of traditional collection management practice, including documentation, conservation, storage and display. A review of the care requirements of artworks in non-traditional media, collected by the Art Gallery of New South Wales since the 1960s, demonstrates the ways in which traditional collection management practice fails to ensure the appropriate care of these works. While there is already significant research and knowledge in the area of the conservation of contemporary art, this is not always reflected in collection management practice. Taking into account recent discussions on the need for new approaches to conservation theory and ethics, Van de Vall (2009) and the possible merits of bespoke codes of ethics Ashley-Smith (2017) and Wharton (2018), this paper argues that the principles that underpin traditional collection management practice are too narrowly focused. It is proposed that a broader approach encompassing an understanding of the artwork as potentially variable, flexible, ephemeral and reproducible, is required to prompt museums to continually review systems and develop approaches that will ensure they can effectively manage these collections for the future.

Applying conservation ethics to the examination and treatment of software- and computer-based art

ABSTRACTAs part of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum’s ongoing initiative Conserving Computer-based Art (CCBA) and the collaborative research between the museum and the Department of Computer Science of New York University’s Courant Institute for Mathematical Sciences, Guggenheim media art conservators and NYU computer scientists have collaborated since 2014 to examine, document, and treat software- and computer-based artworks from the Guggenheim collection. Based on this interdisciplinary work and guided by the objective to inform the care for computer-based art within the field of contemporary art conservation, the authors propose new examination, documentation, and treatment practices for software- and computer-based art that accommodate established conservation ethics and practice guidelines.

From Collection Management to Content Management in Art Documentation: The Conservator as an Editor

ABSTRACTIt has been widely acknowledged that reinstallations and re-executions of contemporary artworks substantially rely on available documentation. Especially for installations and performances it is crucial to record the artist’s intent, past iterations, and tacit knowledge involved in staging the artwork. The growing presence of contemporary artworks in museum collections increases the importance of documentation as a central focus of collection care. However, collections management systems have limitations in adequately presenting these often rich forms of documentation. Consequently, documentation required for presenting a specific complex artwork is often dispersed across multiple systems, drives, and dossiers inside various departments. In recent years, several initiatives responded to these challenges by implementing a digital platform supporting the conservation of contemporary art. Collaborative networked software such as wiki came into focus as a prominent choice for managing the related documentation. The wiki promises to integrate diverse material in one place and accommodate much-needed requirements such as multiple iterations of an artwork, relations between its elements, and multimedia content. This paper takes the case of San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA)’s experimental use of MediaWiki to determine whether and under what conditions a wiki is capable of supporting collection care sufficiently in terms of documenting time-based media art. The case further illustrates the consequence of adopting a content management system as knowledge base for conservation. While collections management systems are designed primarily to handle objects using forms, wikis are publishing platforms in the first place and provide a different kind of framework for artwork records. They are designed to employ text and media to compose articles. We propose to conceptualise this consequential role of conservator as a manager of content, an editor.