from Tate Research -
Carlos Garaicoa Case Study
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An update on a new project over at the Tate on the attempt to preserve an installation artwork by the Cuban artist, Carlos Garaicoa. Quoting the short introduction posted on the Conservation Dist List:

"The site includes video interviews with Carlos Garaicoa, the curator
and conservators. In addition to exploring some very practical
decisions that needed to be made regarding the display and
conservation of this work, the site also investigates aspects of
Garaicoa's practice and issues connected to the international art
scene and Biennale culture. The site aims to provide information of
interest to a general audience as well as provide technical
information not commonly available to the public."

A previous project documenting a Bruce Nauman's installation artwork can also be accessed from the "Inside Installation" main page on the Tate web-site, which also links to an up-coming symposium and web-cast on "Shifting Practice, Shifting Roles? Artists' Installations and the Museum" (previously posted here).
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from The New York Times -
Paints’ Mysteries Challenge Protectors of Modern Art
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The latest on the research of modern paints started at the Getty Conservation Institute by Dr Tom Learner when he was a visiting fellow, and has now recently (re-)joined the Getty from the Tate. Go to the research project web-pages here.
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from Tate Online Events -
Shifting Practice, Shifting Roles? Artists' Installations and the Museum
go to web-page

The last in the series of symposium organised as part of the European-funded project "Inside Installations: The Preservation and Presentation of Installation Art" (see web-site). Incidentally, this last symposium, held at the Tate Modern, will also be web-casted on 22 March 2007, at about 5:15pm (Singapore time).

[ Thanks to Conservation DistList for the prior alert. ]

from Scientific American -
Artists ponder future of digital Mona Lisa
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Saving what is essentially impermanent, though seemingly foolhardy, may not be impossible, if there is a concerted effort and strategy. Media and content migration are 2 such well-established approaches. Another, which might be more a shift in mind-set than technological, is that:

"... art lovers should consider digital art more like Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, something to be revisited periodically and brought back to life through different performances."

In final analysis, heritage and cultural preservation, in all its various guises, can only be as effective as the collective drive to value what is being preserved.

from Tate Papers
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The Tate has collected together various academic papers related to their collection accessible from the above web-site. In particular, several papers related to art conservation:

Issue 1: Spring 2004

"Developing Strategies for the Conservation of Installations Incorporating Time-based Media: Gary Hill's Between Cinema and a Hard Place"
Pip Laurenson
Go to paper

Issue 2: Autumn 2004

"Paintings on Canvas: Lining and Alternatives"
Stephen Hackney
Go to paper

"Conservation Concerns for Acrylic Emulsion Paints: A Literature Review"
Elizabeth Jablonski, Tom Learner, James Hayes & Mark Golden
Go to paper

"The Materials Used by British Oil Painters in the Nineteenth Century"
Joyce H Townsend
Go to paper

Issue 3: Spring 2005

"Glazing Over: A Review of Glazing Options for Works of Art on Paper"
Rosie Freemantle
Go to paper

"The Management of Display Equipment in Time-based Media Installations"
Pip Laurenson
Go to paper

Issue 4: Autumn 2005

"Beuys is Dead: Long Live Beuys! Characterising Volition, Longevity, and Decision-Making in the Work of Joseph Beuys"
Rachel Barker & Alison Bracker
Go to paper

Issue 6: Autumn 2006

"The Effects of Surface Cleaning on Acrylic Emulsion Paintings: A Preliminary Investigation"
Bronwyn Ormsky, Tom Learner, Michael Schilling, Jim Druzik, Herant Khanjian, Dave Carson, Gary Foster & Mike Sloan
Go to paper

"Authenticity, Change and Loss in the Conservation of Time-Based Media Installations"
Pip Laurenson
Go to paper

from New York Times
Swimming With Famous Dead Sharks
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Finally, the restoration of Hirst's infamous work had gotten underway - and at the behest and expense of the collector who bought the work. As the "original" shark had deteriorated very badly due to an incorrect method used initially, the restored work would be using a replacement specimen.

Mr. Hirst acknowledges that once the shark is replaced, art historians will argue that the piece cannot be considered the same artwork. "“It'’s a big dilemma," he said. "“Artists and conservators have different opinions about what's important: the original artwork or the original intention. I come from a Conceptual art background, so I think it should be the intention. It'’s the same piece. But the jury will be out for a long time to come."’

See earlier posts here and here.

from Los Angeles Times
Call the tech squad
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The problem of preserving new-media and contemporary is not a new issue. However, what may be a turning point (for the better, I think) is the increasing profile given to this area of art conservation. This is due, in no small part, to a convergence of the interests of collectors and museums, who have both the clout and wealth to ensure that attention is paid to the long-term (physical, as well as economic) well-being of their collections. This may not be a bad thing in itself.

from The Art Newspaper
Damien Hirst in talks to replace rotting shark
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An update on the problem of the deteriorating shark that made Damien Hirst famous. It might be "replaced" after all. And at the end of the article:

"If Hirst does replace his iconic shark with a new specimen, will it compromise the integrity of his original? Art history will be the judge."

There is also a sense of (poetic?) irony that Hirst's work is entitled The physical impossibility of death in the mind of someone living. (Also see previous post.)

from The New York Times
Giving the Artists a Voice in Preserving Their Work
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Yet another glimpse into the perplexing world of contemporary art and its preservation, made all the more complex and bewildering because of the sheer diversity of approaches and materials.

from New York Times
Looks Brilliant on Paper. But Who, Exactly, Is Going to Make It?
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As artists use fabricators more and more for highly complex work, both in terms of structure and material composition, it begs the question:

"But if artists no longer possess the technical skills to produce their own work, who does?"

And more importantly in the context of preservation, could we trust artists' accounts about the nature and material processes of their works. Maybe it is high time that art conservators pay more attention to the swarm of assistants that prop up the reputation of artists.

from The Washington Times
Art as a chemistry project
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A brief and cursory look at scientific research at the Conservation Department of the National Art Gallery in Washington, DC. An interesting estimate mentioned in the article, quoting Ross Merrill, the chief of conservation:

"Someone once asked how long it took to analyze a painting, and the answer was about three times as long as it took the artist to do it."

No wonder we suffer from a lack of such interesting research in today's fast-paced world! Also, towards the end of the article, there is a mention of the use of glass in Venetian paintings reported earlier.

from Tate Online
Media Matters
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Dealing with time-based media art in museums' permanent collections would necessarily involve the close collaboration of "curators, conservators, registrars and media technical managers". Adding to Tate's latest initiative, there are 2 papers and a conference currently archived on Tate's web-site that is of related interest.

PIP LAURENSON
"Developing Strategies for the Conservation of Installations Incorporating Time-based Media: Gary Hill's Between Cinema and a Hard Place" (Tate Papers, Spring 2004)
go to online paper

PIP LAURENSON
"The Management of Display Equipment in Time-based Media Installations" (Tate Papers, Spring 2005)
go to online paper

Conference, 4 June 2005
"Curating, Immateriality, Systems: On Curating Digital Media"
go to archived conference

from The Art Newspaper
What happens when Flavin’s lights go out?
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In the case of Dan Flavin, the crucial role of the artist's estate as a "final authority" on the preservation the artworks becomes a potentially problematic one. Then again, it does point to an underlying universal that perhaps all preservation decisions are essentially subjective decisions, influenced by a host of factors such as context, material, condition and function.

Also see an earlier post pointing to a New York Times article which highlighted the divergent views between the artist, who saw his art as being temporary, and the collectors of his art.

from Deutsche Welle
Mending Modern Masters
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Making reference to a recently concluded conference held in Cologne, on the conservation of contemporary art. Yet more examples of how a better understanding contemporary art in a more holistic manner by conservators (in terms of materials, production, theory and presentation, amongst others) will go a long way to enable better decision-making in the conservation treatment of such artworks.

from The New York Times
The Gates Project for Central Park
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With the largest ever public art installation in New York City drawing closer to reality, the New York Times has collected articles and web-based resources together to trace the project as it takes shape. It is also worth noting that, as with Christo and Jean-Claude's previous outdoor interventions, this project will be "preserved" through multiple and dispersed channels such as photographs, artists' sketches, commentaries, articles and material remnants etc.

from The Art Newspaper
The Hirst shark: to conserve or not to conserve?
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When an artist decides NOT to follow time-tested techniques, especially when such techniques fall outside his field of competency, do we accept that as artistic license or irresponsible behaviour?

from The New York Times
The Dark Side of Success
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An interesting take on the collecting Minimalist art with reference to Dan Flavin's famed works using common fluorescent light-tubes and off-the shelf components. Contrasting 2 divergent attitudes of the artist and the collector:

In a 1982 interview, he [the artist] declared, "I believe in temporary art wholeheartedly." To another interviewer, he said, "These 'monuments' only survive as long as the light system is useful, 2,100 hours." Yet here they were, being pored over and coddled, praised for their authentic patinas, and lovingly restored, like rare old Baltimore silver

How does one collect a piece of temporary art, let alone preserve it? Not especially helpful when the artist would contradict himself as such:

"One has no choice but to accept the fact of temporary art. Permanence just defies everything. I used to say that I did my certificates on a pulp paper because therefore I knew they would disintegrate. I would like to leave a will and testament to declare everything void at my death, and it's not unrealistic. I mean it, because only I know the work as it ought to be. All posthumous interpretations are less. I know this. So I would rather see it all disappear into the wind. Take it all away. It's electric current with a switch - dubious." Of course, in the 14 years after he said that, Flavin worked - often with Dia [Art Foundation] - to ensure that his art and legacy would continue into the future.

from The Guardian
Nauman's rehashed sounds reverberate around the Tate's emptiness
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Coming after an earlier attempt to (re)create the sunset in the large Turbine Hall of the Tate Modern, this latest sound work by Bruce Nauman has been described by an art critic as an "invisible sculpture". Now, how does one preserve something that one cannot see? Or would this count as intangible heritage?

from The Guardian
Unknown Goya painting discovered
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A clear case of how proper painting restoration can increase the value of a painting many times over - not in the usual sense of improving the appearance or stabilising physical materials, but in uncovering the evidence of a more famous hand having painted the picture.

from Wired News
Twisted Tale of Art, Death, DNA
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from New York Times
Use of Bacteria in Art Leads to Federal Inquiry
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from The Guardian
Art becomes the next suspect in America's 9/11 paranoia
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from Pittsburg Post-Gazette
Ex-CMU art prof entangled with Feds
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First they come for the artist who uses "biotechnology" as part of his work - next will be the conservator who uses bacteria to grow marble?

from ARTNews Online
Moving Mountains, Walking on Water
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When the outdoor environment is the work of art - much of what has been termed as Earthworks or Land Art - it is perhaps an understatement to say that the conservation of such art is a daunting task, indeed. Perhaps, it is pertinent to clarify: "Why are we considering the conservation of such sites in the first place?" A previous New York Times article discussing Robert Smithson's Spiral Jetty raised the particularly vexing question of whether conservation or restoration is even necessary at all, although the work is indeed "deteriorating":

But the idea of doing anything to this artwork worries some people. And the intentions of the artist, who died in a plane crash at 35 in 1973, are not clear.

"When refurbishing earthworks, you don't want to create a Tussaud's wax sculpture," said Robert Storr, a former senior curator at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and a professor at the New York University Institute of Fine Arts. "Earthworks were not made to last forever. There is a danger when restoring them to make a more perfect thing than was originally done."

from The New Yorker
A Picasso Face-Lift
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A short article on the on-going conservation work carried out on Picasso's "Les Demoiselles d’Avignon" at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. It is also interesting to note that the decision to conserve the painting was taken after it went on show in a blockbuster show, and didn't look too good besides other paintings.

from New York Times
Is Sculpture Too Free for Its Own Good?
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Although a highly selective and brief overview (using examples of sculptures currently on show in New York City), the article manages to bring across the highly diverse range of materials and artistic concepts that shape sculptures in the twentieth and, without doubt, in the twentieth-first century. (There is also an audio visual presentation accessible via the article's side-bar.) However, what is left very much unsaid is the increasingly complexity of materials and artistic concepts that present-day sculpture conservators have to contend and engage with effectively in order to see to the preservation of these artworks.

from Sunday Herald Online
Outcry over Turner’s ‘missing’ boat
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Yet one more cleaning controversy. This time it revolves around the issue of keeping to pictorial authenticity versus retaining pictorial balance. Perhaps, at the end of the day, it is not solely a question of: "Who is right?" But also one of: "Who decides?"

from The New York Times
Artist Who Worked With 9/11 Dust Wins the First Artes Mundi Prize
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Another instance of the choice of material in contemporary art running counter to conventional wisdom in art conservation. What do we do with dust that is part of the collection, if ever?

from Wired News
Engineers Just Wanna Make Art
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In addition to being conversant with bio-technology, the future art conservator may need to also be apt in making circuit boards from scratch and customised visual displays.

from The New York Times
The Sky Box
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When the primary material used by the artist is light, then conserving such a work becomes doubly complex - or near impossible - without an intimate understanding of the artist's mind and sensibilities. Even then, success is not guaranteed.

from NY Times.com
The White Stuff
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An outdoor exhibition featuring ephemeral art in Finland. It's a marvel created through long distance collaborations between artists, architects, engineers, local builders and students. Seems to me it's a move away from traditional art medium, art making and exhibition making.

from New Scientist
Art, but not as we know it
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Whenever artists venture into a new medium of creative expression, it is almost inevitable that conservation research and study will follow. Could it be just around the corner that cutting-edge biotechnology will also feature as a subject in the training of tomorrow's art conservators?

from The Scotsman
Another gallery show cleans up
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A brief look at an in-situ painting conservation project for the National Gallery of Scotland.

from The Art Newspaper
How the shark got pickled
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A behind-the-scene look at contemporary art production, at its most basic sense of actually making the finished artwork. Perhaps this might signal the establishment of more studios specialising in the execution of (large, monumental or complex) artworks - much like what an engineering company will do for the architect.